Connell Lorenzo Harrigan Appellant v George Emmanuel Lloyd Respondent [ECSC]

• Jurisdiction: Anguilla
• Judge: ROBOTHAM, C.J.
• Judgment Date: 29 April 1986
• Judgment citation (vLex): [1986] ECSC J0429-1
• Docket Number: CIVIL APPEAL NO: 5 of 1984
• Date: 29 April 1986
• Court: Court of Appeal (Anguilla)

[1986] ECSC J0429-1

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL

Frederick S. Kelsick for Appellant

CIVIL APPEAL NO: 5 of 1984

Between:

Connell Lorenzo Harrigan

Appellant

and

George Emmanuel Lloyd

Respondent

Respondent does not appear and is not represented—

Appeal heard ex-parte by virtue of Rule 35 of Rules 35 of the Court of Appeal Rules 1968

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

ROBOTHAM, C.J.

1 On January 14, 1976, an Adjudication Officer held that lands at Shoal Bay devised under the Will of Joseph Benjamin Harrigan (deceased) including land which for the purposes of this case is known and referred to as lot 27, Block 89118B and which is claimed by the Appellant Connell Lorenzo Harrigan, vested in the Respondent George Emmanuel Lloyd, as Executor of the Will of the said Joseph Benjamin Harrigan.

2 On November 6, 1984, a Judge by virtue of an appeal by way of a rehearing, reversed the decision of the Adjudicating Officer and ordered that the land in dispute comprising, we are told, two acres more or less, should be registered in the name of the Appellant, after one acre had been measured and deducted therefrom, for registration in the name of Wendell Harrigan, in accordance with a devise in the Will of Joseph Benjamin Harrigan which read

"the bush land at Shoal Bay is to be shared equally between Sylvia and Haraldo after one acre is given to my son Wendell".

3 There was no direction in the judgment by what means the particular acre to be given to Wendell was to be identified.

4 The Sylvia and Haraldo referred to in the devise are Sylvia Vanterpool (Nee Harrigan) and Haraldo Harrigan. They are sister and brother respectively of Wendell Harrigan and they are all children of Joseph Benjamin Harrigan who died in November 1963.

5 The evidence in support of the claim of the Appellant to the land was that in 1966 Sylvia and Haraldo asked the Executor Lloyd for their share of the land. Lloyd told Haraldo that he (Lloyd) was getting old, and they both should go and take their share of the land. With the knowledge and approval therefore of the Executor Lloyd, and assisted by the Appellant they went on the land and cut out the portion known as lot 27. This is the land the Appellant subsequently bought from Haraldo and Sylvia on April 22, 1970, and got a receipt for $2500.00. This receipt was put in evidence. Also cut out at the same time in 1966 was a piece for Wendell.

6 For the purposes of this appeal, it is not necessary to go into any further detail as Mr. Kelsick for the Appellant stated before us that he accepted all but one the findings of the learned trial Judge, and that the only ground on which the appeal was brought was the finding that one acre of the land comprised in lot 27 should go to Wendell Harrigan. To quote the exact words of Mr. Kelsick:—

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