Has the High Court clarified the law of cattle trespass, asks Aidan Briggs
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The unusual facts of Re Jenkins give rise to several points of interest to those with agricultural clients that have remained unclear for some time.
In Re Jenkins [2016] EWHC 426 (Ch), the court was asked to consider a claim for trespass by the personal representatives of Kenneth and Constance Jenkins against their son Michael Jenkins. The claim concerned Mr Jenkins’s occupation of nearly 450 acres of land on the Isle of Wight.
Mr Jenkins originally sought to claim an interest in the farm, either by proprietary estoppel or as a tenant under the Agricultural Holdings Act 1986. After litigation lasting six years, both claims were dismissed and an inquiry was ordered into damages for trespass and/or mesne profits in respect of Mr Jenkins’s occupation of the farm since his parents’ deaths.
Interestingly, Mr Jenkins kept not only his own cattle on the land, but also cattle which were bequeathed to his brother Richard under his mother’s will. These came to be known as “Richard’s herd”, which was entirely mixed
