View report page

65
SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE.—COURT OF
APPEAL.
February 28; March 2.
Allen v. Fulham Vestry.
Metropolis—" New Street"—Expenses of paving—
Liability of frontagers—Metropolis Management Act,
1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 120), s. 105 — Metropolis
Management (Amendment) Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict.
c. 102), s. 77.
Under section 77 of the Metropolis Management (Amendment)
Act, 1862, it is a question of fact for the magistrate whether
a road has become at any given time a "new street" within the
meaning of the Act, and the court will not interfere with his
decision unless it is clearly wrong upon the evidence. A road
constructed as a highway by Act of Parliament through agricultural
land may become a new street as soon as houses have
been constructed on both sides of it.
Appeal from the decision of the Queen's Bench Division
of the High Court of Justice (Day and Ridley, J.J.), dated
the 17th of June, 1898, in favour of the Fulham Vestry.
Smith, L.J.—In this case the frontagers contend that in
1877 the road in question was a " new street " within the
meaning of the Metropolis Management Acts 1885 and 1862.
The Vestry, on the other hand, say that it was not at that
time a street but that it became a street for the first time
when houses were built along both sides of it. The facts
are as follows. The road in question was originally made
by the Wandsworth Bridge Company, which was incorporated
by Act of Parliament in 1864. After considerable dispute
with the Fulham Board of Works a compromise was arrived
at in 1876 by which the Board of Works agreed with the
Bridge Company to make up the road on payment of £1,750
by the Company to them. In the year 1877 there were no
houses at all along the road, and this continued down to the
year 1895. The question at issue was, is this a "new
street" within the meaning of the two Acts in the year 1877.
In the year 1895 buildings were put up on the west side of
the road, and in 1896 further buildings were put up on the
east side. The learned magistrate has found as a fact that
this was not a new street in 1876. The frontagers contend
that there can be a "new street" without buildings. In
my opinion section 105 of the Metropolis Management Act
of 1855 contemplates houses being on both sides of the