''Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd''

974 Year 974 ( CMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who has ...

1 WLR 798 () is an

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 ...

and

English contract law English contract law is the body of law that regulates legally binding agreements in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries ...

case, concerning the measure and availability of damages for breach of negative covenant in circumstances where the court has confirmed a covenant is legally enforceable and refused as it may find, as unconscionable, to issue an order for specific performance or an injunction. Such a remedy, which had precedent before the judgment, has since become firmly known as ''Wrotham Park'' damages, which are awarded (in lieu of

specific performance Specific performance is an equitable remedy in the law of contract, whereby a court issues an order requiring a party to perform a specific act, such as to complete performance of the contract. It is typically available in the sale of land law, ...

or an

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...

) under the jurisdiction created (powers vested in the court) by s. 2 of the

Chancery Amendment Act 1858 The Chancery Amendment Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 27) also known as Lord Cairns' Act after Sir Hugh Cairns, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed the English Court of Chancery, the Irish Chancery and the Chancery Court ...

(also known as Lord Cairns' Act). Such damages centre on the ''hypothetical negotiated value'' for a release of the covenant and which so in turn may look to a share of the profits from the business venture enabled by the breach; the court decided 5% of profits should be made payable.

Facts

Ninian Park housing estate during construction

Wrotham Park Wrotham Park (pronounced , ) is a neo-Palladian English country house in the parish of South Mimms, Hertfordshire. It lies south of the town of Potters Bar, from Hyde Park Corner in central London. The house was designed by Isaac Ware in 1754 ...

is an estate for generations owned and lived in by gentry and then nobility including the

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I. He had already succe ...

. Outlying portions have been sold off for development, subject to some lay-out restrictions.

Potters Bar Urban District Potters Bar Urban District was a local government district in England from 1894 to 1974, covering the town of Potters Bar and the village of South Mimms. The district was initially called the South Mimms Rural District, being renamed in 1934. ...

Council came to own one desolate triangle of land. They offered it for sale by public auction as freehold building land for 14 houses. Parkside bought the land and built the houses, despite warnings from Wrotham Park Estate's owners that Parkside were violating the lay-out restrictions. When the houses were built, the owners of the Estate brought a claim against Parkside for breach of the restrictive covenant.

Judgment

Brightman J John Anson Brightman, Baron Brightman, PC (20 June 1911 – 6 February 2006) was a British barrister and judge who served as a law lord between 1982 and 1986. Early life and career Brightman was born in Sandridge, Hertfordshire, the son of Willi ...

(as he then was) awarded damages of £2,500 as a substitute for an injunction. The damages were measured as the amount that might reasonably have been demanded by the plaintiff as payment for relaxing the covenant, being 5% of the developer's anticipated profit. He refused to make an order to demolish the houses built, preferring to award damages under Lord Cairns' Act, saying:

Impact

The jurisdiction for ''Wrotham Park'' damages has been expanded and clarified in subsequent cases, and was summarized by 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 ...

in 2009: #Damages awarded are intended to compensate the claimant for the court's decision not to grant relief in the form of an order for specific performance or an injunction. #The court will award an amount of damages which represents the sum that the claimant might reasonably have demanded from the defendant as compensation for allowing it to breach the relevant contractual provision. The court assesses this by reference to a "hypothetical negotiation" carried out between the parties at the date of breach. #At the "hypothetical negotiation" both parties are assumed to act reasonably and the fact that the parties would never have reached a deal in reality is irrelevant. #Although these damages are awarded in place of relief e.g. an injunction, it is not a prerequisite to their being awarded that either (i) the claimant applied for the injunction in the case or (ii) there was any prospect of such application succeeding. While founded in land law, ''Wrotham Park'' damages have been found to be available in other contexts, such as

employment law Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...

in the matter of

restrictive covenant A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a se ...

s. Limitations on applicability exist. Wrotham Park damages will not be available where a plaintiff has originally sought damages for consequential economic damage, which are commonly sought in the law of nuisance for example.

Commonwealth jurisdictions

In Singapore, the leading case on ''Wrotham Park'' damages is the case of ''Turf Club Auto Emporium Pte Ltd v Yeo Boong Hua''.

018 018 may refer to *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboje ...

SGCA 44

Cases cited

Applied

*''Marten v Flight Refuelling Ltd''

962 Year 962 ( CMLXII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December – Arab–Byzantine wars – Sack of Aleppo: A Byzantine e ...

Ch 115;

961 Year 961 ( CMLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 6 – Siege of Chandax: Byzantine forces under Nikephoros II Phokas cap ...

2 WLR 1018;

2 All ER 696, Ch D

Ch 115, 136 *''Northbourne (Lord) v Johnston & Son''

922 __NOTOC__ Year 922 ( CMXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Summer – Battle of Constantinople: Emperor Romanos I sends Byza ...

2 Ch 309, ChDIndex Card: Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd
ICLR, London

Distinguished

*''Powell v Hemsley''

909 __NOTOC__ Year 909 ( CMIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Britain * King Edward the Elder and his sister, Princess Æthelflæd of Mercia, raid Danish ...

2 Ch 252, CA

Considered

*''Kilbey v Haviland'' (1871) 24 LT 353 *''Isenberg v East India House Estate Co Ltd'' (1863) 3 De GJ & Sm 263 *''Durell v Pritchard'' (1865) LR 1 Ch App 244

References

{{reflist, 2 English remedy case law English land case law High Court of Justice cases 1973 in British law 1973 in case law