A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL GUIDE:
A SHORT, YET SUCCINCT, STATEMENT ON THE RIGHTS OVER AIRSPACE AND SUBSOIL

An appreciation by Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator


The issue of rights over airspace and subsoil can often be confusing to understand but remain a fascinating subject for lawyers involved in disputes. The Preface begins with this intriguing quote from Henry David Thoreau: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

Even for the experienced lawyer, this practical guide is a bit of a revelation covering an area of law which many will have little direct knowledge. And it is for that reason that we welcome this new work as part of the excellent practical guide series available from Law Brief Publishing.

It is intended as practical, “and not a work of academic scholarship”. There is also a word of warning for a work of under one hundred pages: “Some of the topics it covers are too extensive for comprehensive analysis in a book this size” although readers are pointed in the right direction!

The mission statement is clear for the questions of who owns the air above our heads and the earth beneath our feet “affects modern life in many ways”. Examples considered include what may impact on a basement development under an expensive house in Holland Park, London. The work extends to work in Lancashire; a landlord’s wish to add a new floor on top of a block of flats (always controversial); and to a hobbyist’s desire to fly a drone over his neighbour’s back garden.

The author is Daniel Gatty who has written what he describes as “a practical and concise but thorough survey of the many legal issues affecting airspace and subsoil”. He covers the following areas including the usual suspects from land law: freehold and leasehold ownership, easements, manorial rights, conveyancing and land registration, leasehold enfranchisement, adverse possession, minerals, and (last but not least) developing above and below existing buildings which continues to be an area of contemporary legal controversy.

Gatty also makes the point that modern statutes will be relevant to many of the issues that arise with the examples he cites, and he reminds us that the starting point remains “the common law and its treatment of the vertical extent of land ownership”.

And, of course, we have moved on from the legal legend which has it that the owner of land owns everything above it up to the sky, and below it down to the centre of the earth as Jules Verne may have it. Or as Gatty says “to put it theologically, up to heaven and down to hll”. Fortunately, this book is much more practical and realistic for 21st century rights and obligations.

The author has endeavoured to state the law as it is at 31st August 2019. The publication date of this paperback edition is cited as at 14th November 2019.