A leading firm of genealogists has won the first round of its test-case legal dispute with the Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance over the ownership of a former school site in Kent.
Lewison J has found in favour of genealogists Simon and Nathan Fraser on a preliminary issue in their attempt to prove that they are entitled to the value of St Philip’s CoE Primary School, Melville Road, Maidstone, Kent, which closed in 1995.
The case is now expected to move straight to the Court of Appeal, because the judge, who had been told that some 2,000 school sites across the country were potentially affected by the outcome of this case, has granted the board permission to appeal.
Lewison J rejected the board’s claims that the school site reverted back to it before 17 August 1975, 12 years before the Reverter of Sites Act 1987 came into force.
Had he backed the board on this finding, he would have thwarted the Frasers’ claim, but his ruling means that, subject to any appeal, the Frasers can now press ahead with their claim to the value of the school provided they can prove that they are the successors of the person who granted the land in the 1860s.
Backing the Frasers, Lewison J said: “In my judgment, the evidence shows that, until St Philip’s closed in 1995, it continued to educate qualifying persons. Even if it also educated others who did not qualify, it did not cease to be used for the purpose for which it was established.
“Subject to proof that they are the successors to the original grantors, the Frasers are entitled to the value of the school.”
This is the second time that the Frasers, who specialise in locating next-of-kin inheritance cases, have taken the board to court.
In November 2000, the Court of Appeal ruled that they were not entitled to a payout from money received by the board for the 1992 sale of Chartham School, outside Canterbury.
Fraser and another v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance and another Chancery Division (Lewison J) 14 May 2003.
References: PLS News 15/05/03
