''Grape Bay Ltd v Attorney-General of Bermuda'' [1999
UKPC 43
is a case concerning expressly analogous principles to compulsory purchase by the Privy Council and is important for

English land law English land law is the law of real property in England and Wales. Because of its heavy historical and social significance, land is usually seen as the most important part of English property law. Ownership of land has its roots in the feudal ...

. It directly concerns a state prohibition which impacts on a development, by agreement but not in any substantive physical works, underway. It held that an Act passed by the Bermuda legislature to prevent foreign corporation restaurants opening (including

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

) did not amount to a "

regulatory taking In United States constitutional law, a regulatory taking occurs when governmental regulations limit the use of private property to such a degree that the landowner is effectively deprived of all economically reasonable use or value of their prope ...

" or an unconstitutional deprivation of property without compensation. In doing so,

Lord Hoffmann Leonard Hubert "Lennie" Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (born 8 May 1934) is a retired senior South African–British judge. He served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1995 to 2009. Well known for his lively decisions and willingness to break w ...

distinguished infringement of "liberty" and an infringement of "property" in a manner similar to

Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (August 9, 1879, Oakland, CaliforniaOctober 21, 1918, Alameda, California) was an American jurist. He was the author of the seminal ''Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays'' (19 ...

's classic analysis.

WN Hohfeld Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld (August 9, 1879, Oakland, CaliforniaOctober 21, 1918, Alameda, California) was an American jurist. He was the author of the seminal ''Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning and Other Legal Essays'' (19 ...

'Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning' (1917
26(8) Yale Law Journal 710
/ref>

Facts

attempted to open a new branch in

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, under the company name of Grape Bay Ltd. Residents objected, and a Bill was brought in the lower house to prohibit new foreign restaurants. It was defeated in the Senate, but a second reading came. McDonald's was keen to press ahead, and prepared to challenge it as being unconstitutional. It passed as the Governor signed the Prohibited Restaurant Act 1997 stopping any non-Bermudan restaurant that was not already established from being set up. McDonald's made a challenge under articles 1(c) and 13 of the Bermudan Constitution, alleging that it had been deprived of property without compensation. It contended that although it owned no land in Bermuda yet, the various contracts and options it had entered into amounted to a "chose in action" that was being displaced (devalued) by the Act. The general right of property in article 13 is not taken, but the more general reference in article 1(c) to "protection for the privacy of his home and other property and from deprivation of property without compensation" was enough to cover their position.

Advice

advised that there was no deprivation of property, and so no breach of the Bermuda constitution. He considered similar provisions from the constitutions of Dominica, Mauritius, and Malta where there is a family resemblance under many UK Overseas Territories, stating a general principle and then more specific rights. However it was unnecessary to decide whether more general declaratory rights were capable of enforcement in each situation because the act was not a deprivation of property in any case. His Lordship began his advice as follows.

Notes

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References

* English land case law United Kingdom administrative case law 1999 in British law 1999 in case law Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases on appeal from Bermuda 1999 in Bermuda

Facts

Advice

See also

Notes

References