Carpark dispute still not dead and buried

Tuesday 26 November 2019

Medieval fiefs in Guernsey are once again at the centre of a court room dispute, as the argument over ownership of a Cobo Car Park has resumed in the Court of Appeal.

AW Holdings Ltd decided to appeal a judgement given by the Bailiff at the end of last year, which said there was no way to prove he had ownership of the car park.

The whole case kicked off more than 10 years ago in 2008 after the Castel Parish Constables decided to do some work to the car park. AW Holdings intervened and said it owned the land, having purchased the 'fief' that it belonged to the year before, in 2007. The business stopped any more work going ahead and asked for £10,000 in damages. 

In the December 2018 trial, the Bailiff made his decision that the land was public, or common, and it looked as though the case might have finally come to a close.

It will now continue into 2020, as AW Holdings has appealed the matter. This means the same evidence is being reviewed by three High Court Judges from the UK, who sat down this week to hear the evidence and have said they will reach a final verdict after Christmas. 

Read about the original case from last December HERE. 

Speaking during this week's appeal hearing, the Constables' advocate, Mark Dunster, argued there was absolutely no way to prove who had ownership of the land, a fact the Bailiff reflected in his original judgement.

He pointed to a stamp on old conveyance documents from the Crown. Why would they have been involved if it wasn't public land, he asked? He also clarified that the Constables had never claimed ownership of the land, just that it was common land, and therefore it was their parochial duty to look after it.

Crown Advocate Robin Gist supported the Constables' case on behalf of the Crown and HM Procurer. He rebutted each of AW Holdings' points of appeal, and said that the expert evidence given by the States Archivist during the original hearing suggested the land was in a different fief to that which AW Holdings claimed to own. 

AW Holdings' Advocate Barnes once again pointed to 11th Century documents drawn up when Guernsey was split into around 50 fiefs akin to smaller parishes. He cited conveyance documents dating back to the 1700s - all written in French - which he said tracked the transactions the land has been through. 

Pictured top: The carpark at Cobo has been disputed for more than a decade. A decision on the appeal is due in the New Year.