The long-awaited High Court battle over the rights of occupation of five learned societies at their central London home was adjourned on Wednesday after just two days.
The case was halted after Justice Peter Smith called into question the basis on which the government owns Burlington House on Piccadilly.
The judge asked both parties to consider the implications of whether the building was the subject of a charitable trust.
Several of the societies were housed in Somerset House before moving to Burlington in the 19th century.
The judge asked whether the societies would like to argue that the government had put this original occupation into some form of charitable trust.
The parties are expected to return to court next week.
The Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Geological Society, the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry have always been based rent free at the prestigious W1 address.
In 2002, the estimated rental value totalled £1.3m.
The government, represented by Jonathan Gaunt QC, is seeking to establish that the learned societies are tenants at will and that the tenancy is therefore determinable at will.
The five societies, represented by Patrick Talbot QC, argue they still have a right to be there under the rent-free arrangement.
In 2002, a House of Commons select committee on the government funding of the scientific learned societies concluded that withdrawing the subsidised arrangement “would amount to a net loss for science”.
References: EGi News 23/01/04
