''Boyd v. Mayor of Wellington''

924 __NOTOC__ Year 924 (Roman numerals, CMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927, Byzantine–Bulg ...

NZLR 1174 is a leading

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of a l ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on the concept of

indefeasibility of title Torrens title is a land registration and land transfer system, in which a state creates and maintains a register of land holdings, which serves as the conclusive evidence (termed " indefeasibility") of title of the person recorded on the registe ...

Background

The plaintiff in this case, Mr, Boyd, owned a parcel of land in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

until in 1917 the local council compulsorily acquired the land under the Public Works Act

908 __NOTOC__ Year 908 ( CMVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * May 15 – The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor L ...

to build part of the

Wellington tramway system The Wellington tramway system (1878–1964) operated in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. The tramways were originally owned by a private company, but were purchased by the city and formed a major part of the city's transport system. Tra ...

. After the council was registered as the new owner of this property, it came to the plaintiff's attention that because there was an existing building on the property, the council had no legal right to acquire the property without the owner's consent. The plaintiff took legal action against the council to return the land back to his ownership.

Held

The court ruled in favor of the council, as the transfer was not obtained due to fraud, i.e. the council was not aware at the time that it needed the owners consent, but rather to oversight by the council, and this meant that the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...

had an indefeasible title to the property. Footnote: Had this claim not been about real estate, it is likely that the decision would have been different.

References

Court of Appeal of New Zealand cases 1924 in case law 1924 in New Zealand law Rail transport in Wellington Eminent domain Property law of New Zealand {{NewZealand-case-law-stub