''Attorney-General v De Keyser's Royal Hotel Limited'' is a

leading case Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...

UK constitutional law The United Kingdom constitutional law concerns the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the British constitution is not contained in a single code but princ ...

decided by the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

in 1920 which exhaustively considered the principles on which the courts decide whether statute has fettered prerogative power. It decided that the

royal prerogative The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in th ...

does not entitle the Crown to take possession of a subject's land or buildings for administrative purposes connected with the defence of the realm without paying compensation. It is the authority for the statement that the royal prerogative is placed in

abeyance Abeyance (from the Old French ''abeance'' meaning "gaping") is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. ...

(is not used) when

statute law Statutory law or statute law is written law passed by a body of legislature. This is opposed to Oral law, oral or customary law; or regulatory law promulgated by the Executive (government), executive or common law of the judiciary. Statutes may or ...

can provide a legal basis for an action.

Facts

De Keyser's Royal Hotel Ltd, as owner of a hotel situated in

Blackfriars, London Blackfriars is in central London, specifically the south-west corner of the City of London. Blackfriars Priory The name is first visible today in records of 1317 in many orthographies. Friar evolved from la, frater as french: frère has, mea ...

, claimed compensation under the

Defence Act 1842 Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

for occupation of the hotel by the armed forces during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The government relied on prerogative power under which 'less compensation would be payable'.

De Keyser's Royal Hotel De Keyser's Royal Hotel was a large hotel on the Victoria Embankment, at its junction with New Bridge Street (now the A201), Blackfriars, London. The location was formerly the site of Bridewell Palace. The Royal Hotel was founded before 1845 ...

was a 300–400 bedroom hotel on the

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. It runs from the Palace of Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge in the City of London, and acts as a major thoroughfare ...

, founded in the 1860s by Polydore de Keyser, that occupied the former site of

Bridewell Palace Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correc ...

. Officers of the Crown had taken possession of the hotel in 1916, purporting to act under statutory powers conferred by the

Defence of the Realm Act 1914 The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...

(DORA). When challenged by the owner in

petition of right The Petition of Right, passed on 7 June 1628, is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state, reportedly of equal value to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689. It was part of a wider c ...

proceedings, it was argued for the Crown that the competent military authority was empowered by the 1914 Act and regulations to take possession of land and buildings while the subject had no legal right to compensation.

The prospects for the hotel's business

Before the outbreak of the war with Germany, De Keyser's had been operating as a first class hotel, mainly for a continental clientele. By the time the hotel was taken for the wartime use of the Crown in May 1916, the hotel premises were held on a set of leaseholds expiring in 1961, but due to the loss of clientele in wartime, the hotel had been running at a loss. From June 1915 the company was in the hands of a receiver and manager, Arthur Whinney, appointed by the

Chancery Court The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

for the holders of the company's

debenture In corporate finance, a debenture is a medium- to long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money, at a fixed rate of interest. The legal term "debenture" originally referred to a document that either creates a debt or acknowl ...

s (bearing annual interest of about £6,000). He had proceeded to cut some of the business losses, and before the take-over in 1916 he informed the official negotiating for the Crown that the hotel's business had improved considerably and future prospects were favourable. The company's petition of right was presented in February 1917. Before the attorney-general's ''fiat'' was given for letting the petition of right proceed, a senior civil servant informed the Home Office that the hotel company was the only party in connection with requisitioning by the

Office of Works The Office of Works was established in the England, English Royal Household, royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of W ...

to have refused to let the claim be dealt with under the DORA regulations. In the meantime, petition of right proceedings had previously been heard by the Court of Appeal in July 1915, concerning the requisition of

Shoreham Aerodrome Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in the parish of Lancing in West Sussex, England. It has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying i ...

, an airfield on the south coast, by another department, the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, and when the owner's appeal came to be heard by the House of Lords in July 1916, additional relevant historical information was available, resulting in an outcome that enabled the owner (The Brighton-Shoreham Aerodrome Ltd) to obtain compensation under the Defence Act 1842.

Judgement

In 1919, the Court of Appeal (Sir Charles Swinfen Eady MR and

Warrington LJ Thomas Rolls Warrington, 1st Baron Warrington of Clyffe, PC (29 May 1851 – 26 October 1937), known as Sir Thomas Warrington between 1904 and 1926, was a British lawyer and judge. Warrington was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1875, and af ...

;

Duke LJ Sir Henry Edward Duke, 1st Baron Merrivale (5 November 1855 – 20 May 1939) was a British judge and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland between 1916 and 1918. Background and education Du ...

dissenting), reversing the decision of Mr Justice Peterson in the High Court, decided that De Keyser's Royal Hotel Ltd, as the hotel's owner, was entitled to compensation in the manner provided by the Defence Act 1842. On the Attorney-General's appeal in 1920, the House of Lords unanimously affirmed the Court of Appeal's decision, rejecting the government's claim to rely on prerogative power, and holding that once the statute had been enacted the prerogative powers fell into

, for the duration of the life of its provisions should the statute be replaced or amended or modified. Present at the House of Lords hearing were four

Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

: Lord Dunedin, Lord Atkinson,

Lord Moulton John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton, (18 November 1844 – 9 March 1921) was an English mathematician, barrister, judge and Liberal politician. He was a Cambridge Apostle. Early life Moulton was born in Madeley, Shropshire, England, as ...

, and Lord Sumner, plus Lord Parmoor (not a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, but a member of the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...

which had ruled on the case of ''The Zamora'' (1916)). At the hearing, the Crown was represented by Sir Gordon Hewart, Attorney-General, and Sir Ernest Pollock, Solicitor-General, and the other party was represented by

Sir John Simon John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954), was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of only three peop ...

KC and Leslie Scott KC. In an introduction to an authoritative commentary published soon after the decision, Simon described it as one of the leading cases in constitutional law, concerned with establishing the rights of individual citizens in the face of exceptional interference by the

Executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dire ...

. The principles established in the ''De Keyser's Royal Hotel'' case have been referred to in later judgments when the government's claim to rely on the exercise of power under the royal prerogative has been challenged, such as '' Laker Airways Ltd v Department of Trade'' (1976), concerning the revocation of the commercial airline operator's licence of

Laker Airways Laker Airways was a private British airline founded by Sir Freddie Laker in 1966. It was originally a charter airline flying passengers and cargo worldwide. Its head office was located at Gatwick Airport in Crawley, England. It became the seco ...

, ''

R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Fire Brigades Union was a House of Lords case concerning the awarding of compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The case is considered significant in constitutional terms for its ruling on the extent of Ministerial prerogative powers. Fa ...

'' (1995), concerning changes to the

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) is an executive agency of the UK Government. The Authority, established in 1996 and based in Glasgow, administers a compensation scheme for injuries caused to victims of violent crime in Englan ...

, and most recently in ''

R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland ''R (Miller) v The Prime Minister'' and ''Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland'' ( 019UKSC 41), also known as ''Miller II'' and ''Miller/Cherry'', were joint landmark constitutional law cases on the limits of the power of royal prerogat ...

'' (2019), concerning the Royal Prerogative to prorogue Parliament.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official law report of ''Attorney-General v De Keyser’s Royal Hotel Limited '', with headnote

''The case of requisition: in re a petition of right of De Keyser's Royal Hotel Limited: De Keyser's Royal Hotel Limited v. the King (1920)''
Leslie Scott and Alfred Hildesley, with Introduction by

, Clarendon Press, 1920 House of Lords cases 1920 in case law 1920 in British law 1920 in England Constitutional law United Kingdom administrative case law United Kingdom constitutional case law Constitution of the United Kingdom Royal prerogative