Landmark case establishing the requirements for adverse possession, particularly the need for intention to possess (animus possidendi) and factual possession. Involved a young man grazing animals on common land.

Important adverse possession case establishing that intention to possess can be demonstrated even when the possessor knows they have no legal right. Involved occupation of land earmarked for road development.

Lloyds Bank v Rosset established the definitive test for determining when a person can claim a beneficial interest in property owned by another through constructive trust. The case clarified that such interests can only arise through direct contributions to purchase price or mortgage payments, or through express agreements coupled with detrimental reliance.

Tulk v Moxhay established that restrictive covenants relating to land can bind successor owners in equity, even if they are not parties to the original covenant. This landmark case created the principle that equitable obligations can run with land where there is notice and the covenant is negative in nature.

Hill v Tupper established the fundamental principle that easements must accommodate and benefit the dominant tenement, not merely provide a personal or commercial advantage. The case demonstrates that rights which are purely personal or commercial in nature cannot constitute easements over land.

Court of Appeal case establishing that easements can be acquired by prescription based on long user 'as of right' even against a servient owner who could have stopped the use.

The House of Lords established that property rights must have specific characteristics to bind third parties, rejecting deserted wives' equity as a proprietary interest.

Established the requirement that lease terms must be certain in duration. A lease 'for the duration of the war' was held invalid for uncertainty, leaving only a weekly periodic tenancy determinable by notice.

Burns v Burns established that mere cohabitation and domestic contributions without financial contributions to property acquisition do not create beneficial interests under resulting or constructive trusts. The case highlighted the harsh consequences for unmarried partners who lack legal protection for property rights.

Rhone v Stephens established that the burden of positive covenants cannot run with freehold land in English law. The House of Lords refused to overturn this long-standing principle, leaving reform to Parliament rather than judicial development.

Supreme Court case qualifying the strict certainty requirement from Lace v Chantler. An agreement terminable only on specified grounds took effect at common law as a tenancy for life, which s.149(6) of the Law of Property Act 1925 converted into a 90-year determinable term.

Son who built on father's land acquired equitable interest through proprietary estoppel

Proprietary estoppel can create an interest in land equivalent to an estate contract

Established the three methods by which joint tenancy can be severed to create tenancy in common. The case remains the foundational authority on severance of joint tenancy in English land law.

Proprietary estoppel may fail where equity has been satisfied by acquiescence

A father gave his son a deed of gift for land, and the son spent money improving it in reliance on the gift. The court held the son acquired an equitable interest despite defects in the legal conveyance.

Proprietary estoppel can grant full ownership where reliance and detriment are sufficiently substantial.

You can steal your own property from someone with superior possession rights.

Wheeldon v Burrows established the rule that when a landowner sells part of their land, certain easements that were previously used for the benefit of the sold land will automatically pass to the purchaser. This case created an important exception to the general rule that easements must be expressly granted.

Trespass for burglary can occur within buildings you're otherwise permitted to enter.

Established that easements can exist for commercial purposes, specifically the right to hang an advertising sign on neighbouring property. This case broadened the scope of what constitutes an easement beyond purely domestic convenience.

Exceeding permitted entry with intent to steal constitutes trespassory burglary.

Walsh v Lonsdale established that where there is an agreement to grant a lease that satisfies the requirements of equity, equity will treat the parties as if the lease had already been granted. This created the doctrine that 'equity looks on that as done which ought to be done' in landlord and tenant law.

Proprietary estoppel creates enforceable rights where assurance induces detrimental reliance on property

The Court of Appeal established the fundamental principle that the burden of positive covenants cannot run with freehold land at law or in equity.

The Court of Appeal held that the burden of a restrictive covenant could not run to a third party who was not an original party to the covenant, establishing important limits on covenant enforcement.

Contractual purchasers in actual occupation can claim overriding interests under Land Registration Act 1925.

The claimant mortgaged property with a 40-year postponement of the right to redeem. The court held that equity's doctrine against clogs on the equity of redemption does not invalidate all postponements of redemption; such terms are valid unless oppressive, unconscionable, or amount to a clog. A lengthy postponement is not automatically void if freely negotiated.

Criminal damage can apply to your own property when others have legal interests.

This House of Lords case established that courts will look beyond artificial contractual arrangements to determine the true nature of occupancy rights. Where landlords attempt to avoid creating tenancies by using sham devices like separate agreements for couples, the court will examine the reality of the situation to protect tenants' rights.

House of Lords rules theft can occur even with owner's consent

Theft can occur even when the victim consents to the taking.

Court defines when temporary taking becomes theft under criminal law

Courts should consider entire mortgage term when granting possession adjournments to mortgagors

House of Lords creates definitive test for lease versus licence distinction

Occupiers liable for continuing third-party nuisances they know about.

Charging orders create equitable interests in land that can become overriding interests through actual occupation.

Courts will disregard artificial contractual terms that do not reflect the reality of occupation.