Louis v Lucien

• Jurisdiction: St Lucia
• Judge: Manning, J.
• Judgment Date: 17 July 1959
• Neutral Citation: LC 1959 HC 8
• Docket Number: No. 3 of 1959
• Court: High Court (Saint Lucia)
• Date: 17 July 1959

Supreme Court of the Windward and Leeward Islands. (Civil Jurisdiction)

Manning, J.

No. 3 of 1959

Louis

and

Lucien

Appearances:

V. A. Cooper for plaintiff

M. M. Mason for defendant

Real property - Ownership — Prescription

Facts: The question was whether the land was owned by the parish. The defendant was occupying the land and was asked to vacate by the vicar.

Held: The evidence proved that the parish had been in possession as proprietor with continuous uninterrupted, peaceable, public and unequivocal possession. Order made that the defendant should give up possession.

Manning, J.

1 In the year 1957, the defendant Lucien was occupying a portion of land at Gros Islet. He had erected a house on it. On the 2 ^nd July that year, a solicitor's letter was sent to him on the instructions of the Vicar General of Castries, pointing out that the land was Parish land, asking him to remove the house, and informing him that legal proceedings would be instituted if he refused. Lucien took no notice of this letter. No legal proceedings were instituted.

2 On the 11 ^th December in this same year 1957, the Vestry of the Parish of Gros Islet sold the land to the plaintiff, Thomas Louis. Louis found Lucien in, occupation and was unable to enter into possession. On the 23 ^rd January 1959, he filed his declaration, asking for possession and recognition of his ownership of the land. The defence was that Lucien was lawfully in possession, and that he became owner of the lot as sole survivor of three legatees under the will of his mother, Eugenie Marfise St. Edouard.

3 Lucien is admittedly in possession and it is incumbent on Louis to prove that he has a better title. Apart from the oral evidence of witnesses, Louis' case depends on a document, namely, a report on a survey of the Parish lands of Gros Islet made between the 31 ^st October and the 2 ^nd November 1898; by one W. D. Edmunds, a sworn land surveyor. This document is 61 years old and has been produced from proper custody. Mr. Mason, counsel for Lucien, did not object to its reception in evidence and does not challenge any of the statements made in it.

4 From the surveyor's report, it appears that a considerable area of Parish lands had been lost to the Parish owing to prescription, and that the representative of the Parish decided not to contest any claims made by adjoining owners on this ground. One adjoining owner, however, Rosette Edmund, of her own free will, conceded to the Parish a small triangular portion of land. This portion is marked “R” on the plan drawn up by the surveyor; and it is within this portion that the land in dispute in this action is situated.

5 Charles Devaux, who lived at Gros Islet from 1908 until recently, testified that he was well acquainted with the locality, and that he was a member of the...