''Burmah Oil Company Ltd v Lord Advocate'' 965AC 75, was a court case, raised in Scotland, and decided ultimately in the House of Lords. The case is an important decision in

British constitutional law The constitution of the United Kingdom or British constitution comprises the written and unwritten arrangements that establish the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a political body. Unlike in most count ...

and had unusual legal repercussions at the time.

Facts

This case concerned the destruction of

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

s in Burma belonging to the

Burmah Oil Company The Burmah Oil Company was a leading British oil company which was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1966, Castrol was acquired by Burmah, which was renamed "Burmah-Castrol". BP Amoco (now BP) purchased the company in 2000. History ...

by British forces during the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942. The destruction was ordered in order to prevent the installations from falling into the hands of the advancing Imperial Japanese Army. Burmah Oil brought an action against the UK government, represented by the Lord Advocate. In the Outer House of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

Lord Kilbrandon Charles James Dalrymple Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon, PC (15 August 1906 – 10 September 1989) was a Scottish judge and law lord. Family and education He was the son of James Edward Shaw and his wife Gladys Elizabeth Lester (the daughter of th ...

found in favour of Burmah Oil. The Crown appealed, and the First Division of the Inner House of the Court of Session unanimously reversed the decision below. Burmah Oil then appealed to the House of Lords.

Judgment

The House of Lords held by a 3–2 majority that although the damage was lawful, it was the equivalent of requisitioning the property. Any act of requisition was done for the good of the public, at the expense of the individual proprietor, and for that reason, the proprietor should be compensated from public funds. Viscount Radcliffe and

Lord Hodson Francis Lord Charlton Hodson, Baron Hodson, (17 September 1895 – 11 March 1984), also known as Charles Hodson, was a British judge who served as Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1960 to 1971. Biography Charles, as he was always known, was ...

dissented.

Significance

In the end, the result was frustrated by the passing of a retroactive Act of Parliament, the

War Damage Act 1965 The War Damage Act 1965 is an Act of United Kingdom Parliament which exempts the Crown from liability in respect of damage to, or destruction of, property caused by acts lawfully done by the Crown during, or in contemplation of the outbreak of, ...

, which retroactively exempts the Crown from liability in respect of damage to, or destruction of, property caused by acts lawfully done by the Crown during, or in contemplation of the outbreak of, a war in which it is engaged.

References

{{Reflist 1965 in Scotland House of Lords cases Court of Session cases 1965 in case law Burmah-Castrol United Kingdom administrative case law 1965 in the environment 1965 in British law United Kingdom constitutional case law

Facts

Judgment

Significance

See also

References