These notes were prepared during my final assessments and I have made reference to several established Land Law textbooks. For example, Martin Dixon, Sweet & Maxwell. I spent 4 months working to perfect my notes and the result was I walked out of my exam hall an hour earlier. If you are someone who...
Following the Practice Guide 16 titled Profits a Prendre issued by the UK Government, a
profit a prendre is a right to take something from another’s persons land. This could be part of
the land itself (as in grass) or wildlife killed on it (fishing). However, the item taken must be
capable of ownership thereby excluding rights such as a right to take water. It has been held
in the case of Manning v Wasdale that such a right (to take water) is a publici juris, whereby
it belongs to the public.
It should noted that there are two types of profit a prendre; appurtenant or in gross. A profit a
prendre appurtenant is a right the benefit of which is attached to a particular piece of land, in
the same way as an easement. This should be contrasted with a profit a prendre in gross
where the owner of the profit may not own any land at all and may dispose of the profit
independently from any land they do own.
The Following Notes is taken from the Halsbury Laws of England
Rights of owner of profit a prendre – a comparison with easement.
The owner of profit a prendre has rights of a possessory nature, thereby enabling him/her to
bring a claim for trespass at common law for their infringement as held in Fitzgerald v
Firbank. A profit differs from an easement in this respect, for the owner of an easement
cannot sustain trespass, but can only protect his rights by abatement or a claim for nuisance.
Once again referring to Fitzgerald it has also been held that although the primary remedy for
the owner of a profit is trespass, he/she may in a suitable case maintain a claim for nuisance if
he is disturbed or adversely affected in the enjoyment of it.
On the point of distinguishing profit a prendre from easements, Halsbury’s Laws of England
provides while an easement only confers a right to use the servient tenement in a particular
manner or to prevent the commission of some act on that tenement, a profit a prendre confers
a right to take from the servient tenement.
Distinction between profits a prendre and licenses
Profits a prendre, though sometimes called ‘licenses’ as in the case of Doe d Hanley v Wood,
must be carefully distinguished from mere licenses, which are not tenements and do not pass
any interest or alter or transfer property in anything, but only make an act lawful which
otherwise would have been unlawful as defined in Thomas v Sorell.
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