Munro v Liquidator of Balnagown Estate Co Ltd, [1948] ScotCS CSIH_5
Citation: Munro v Liquidator of Balnagown Estate Co Ltd, [1948] ScotCS CSIH_5
Rule of thumb: If goods you own are in another person’s property do you have a right of access to the property to get them? Yes, but you may have to pay a storage charge in order to obtain them.
Judgment:
This case invoked both property law and movable property law. The pursuer had bought timber from the defender but the pursuer had not collected this by the date set in the contract. The defender stated that after this date the pursuer was no longer entitled to enter their premises to obtain the goods. The Court firstly held that only trees attached to the ground were pars solis – part of the soil, but trees that were detached from the soil became movable property. The Court further held that the defender had no right to withhold the pursuer’s goods from him and had to grant him access to these, although they did state that the defender was entitled to charge the purser storage costs for holding these goods, ‘There is a stipulation in the pursuer's contracts that all sawmills and other plant shall be removed by a specified time. Could it be maintained that failure to remove the sawmills and plant timeously would have the result in law of depriving the pursuer of the sawmills and plant of which he is owner, and that henceforth he must leave them lying on the lands of Balnagown? Breach of the condition to remove sawmills and plant by a certain date might give rise to a claim of damages, but it would confer no right on the first-named defender to prevent the pursuer from removing them. In my opinion, the pursuer has a perfectly good title to delivery of the timber which he has severed from the lands of Balnagown. It follows that the pursuer has stated a relevant case. I shall, accordingly, … pronounce decree of delivery as concluded for.’ Lord President Cooper
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.