F. BOWLES & SONS, LTD. v. MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF CARDIFF.

(1946) 80 Ll.L.Rep. 238

KING'S BENCH DIVISION.

Before Mr. Justice Lynskey.

Canals - Right to navigate - Restriction - Private Act - Interpretation - Statute of 1790 (as amended by statute of 1796) entitling persons "to navigate upon the said canal with any such ships . . . as the locks thereon will permit" - Navigation of Glamorganshire Canal by plaintiffs' steamship Deloraine - Deloraine employed to dredge sand in Bristol Channel and to bring it to plaintiffs' wharf on landward side of sea lock of canal - Evidence that Deloraine had with careful manoeuvring been navigated through sea lock for such purposes on more than 2000 occasions - Canal vested in Corporation of Cardiff (defendants) - Notice given by defendants to plaintiffs prohibiting navigation of canal by Deloraine except under licence of the defendants, and subject to plaintiffs signing an undertaking that they would make good any damage to defendants' property - Refusal by plaintiffs to sign undertaking - Plaintiffs notified that the Deloraine would not in future be permitted to use sea lock - Claim by plaintiffs (1) for declaration that by the Act of 1790 they were entitled to navigate Deloraine through the sea lock; (2) for an injunction restraining defendants from preventing plaintiffs from so navigating; (3) for damages for breach of statutory duty - Contention by defendants that sea lock did not permit Deloraine to navigate the canal, as Deloraine could not be locked through without extraordinary precautions being taken or without serious risk of damage to the lock, lock gates and vessel; further, that as the sea lock was the only lock permitting Deloraine to pass through, the statute of 1790 gave no right to navigate upon any part of the canal - Act of 1943 extinguishing navigation rights (entitling plaintiffs to compensation), but giving an overriding right to the Minister of War Transport by notice to require defendants to keep open for navigation the canal (or part thereof) until a date to be later determined - Notice given by Minister to defendants to keep open part of canal (which included plaintiffs' wharf) - Expiry date not fixed - Evidence that partly by reason of the defendants' refusal to permit Deloraine to navigate upon canal and partly because of failure to dredge, that portion of canal above sea lock had silted up and was unfit for navigation by Deloraine - Glamorganshire Canal Act, 1790, Sect. 53 - Glamorganshire Canal Act, 1796, Sect. 1 - Cardiff Corporation Act, 1943, Sects. 27, 55.