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Mr. Macmorran, K.C., and Mr. Ryde appeared for the appellants; the
Solicitor-General and Mr. S. A. T. Rowlatt for the respondent.
(The premises in question were Nos. 25 to 37, Parker Street, St. Gilesin-the-Fields).
Mr. Justice Walton, in giving judgment, said that the case was
sufficiently clear. It might well be, for the reasons stated by Mr. Macmorran,
that houses like those in question ought to have the benefit of the exemption.
But all he had to consider was whether in fact they were entitled to it. Did
this building come within the Act of Parliament? In order to bring it within
it, it seemed to be plainly necessary to make out that the cubicles were separate
dwelling-houses, for, if they were not that, they were not within the Act.
Certain rules and regulations were made for the management of the houses.
(His Lordship read them.) These cubicles occupied the three upper floors, and
on the ground floor other accommodation was provided. It seemed to him
sufficiently plain that what was provided was—on the three upper floors
sleeping accommodation only, and on the ground floor the accommodation,
other than sleeping accommodation, which a dwelling-house provided—namely,
lavatories, dining-room, servants' quarters, etc. It seemed to him that these
cubicles were merely sleeping places, and not. separate dwelling-places. Mr.
Macmorran had said that a house could not be an inhabited dwelling-house
unless the person inhabiting it slept there. But it did not follow from that
that a bedroom merely was a dwelling-house. The appeal must be dismissed.
(" The Times," Saturday, December 9th, 1905.)
Agar r. Nokes and another.
August 9th, 1905.
(Before Alverstone, L. C. J., Lawrence and Ridley, J. J.)
Public Health (London)—Nuisance—Old drain restored on old level on new
concrete bed—One old pipe and gully replaced—Four new pipes and
gully — "Reconstruction" or "repair"—Bylaws of London County
Council made under s. 202 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855
18 & 19 Vic., c. 120).
A surface water drain in a yard, carrying slop water from a sink, which was
not laid on concrete or ventilated, communicated with a sewer. A notice in
respect of this drain having been served on the owner by the sanitary authority,
he broke the socket of a pipe close to the sewer, and removed live pipes and
two gullies. Having laid a bed of concrete, he laid thereon four new lengths
of pipe and a new gully and connection at side, replacing one old length of
pipe and gully which had been at the other end of the drain to the sewer.
This line of pipes was laid on the same line and on the same level as the old
line, but it was not ventilated.
Held, that the owner had "reconstructed" a drain within the meaning of
certain by laws (Nos 2 and 21), made by the London County Council under s.
202 of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855.
(J. P., vol. 69, p. 374, .November 4th, 1905; Knight's L. G. Reps. No. 11,
vol. 3, November, 1905, with plan).