Frederick John RIMELL, Anerley
report from "The Times", 2nd August 1899
Queen's Bench Division. Rimell v Grosvenor and Another
This was an action by Mr. Frederick John Rimell, a licensed victualler living at Anerley, against the trustees of the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society, to recover £50 paid as a deposit on a contract for the purchase of two plots of land on the Beckenham Park Estate, the contract never having been carried out.
The plaintiff desired to buy land on which he could erect premises with an "off" licence, and went to the Birkbeck Institution, where he interviewed Mr Williams, one of the managers.
According to the plaintiff Mr Williams told him that the only plots on which a shop would be allowed were certain plots marked on a plan, which was produced at the time.
The plaintiff agreed to buy two of these plots for £525, paid a deposit of £50, and signed a contract of purchase.
This contract provided that no house for the sale of excisable liquors would be permitted without the licence of the vendors except on the marked plots.
When the day for completion came, the purchase price was paid, but was handed back on its being pointed out that the conveyance, which was the one in common use on the estate, only provided against there being an "on" licences, but not against "off" licences.
Mr Williams denied that the plaintiff's account of the interview was correct, and said that there was no mention of "off licences at all."
Mr T Willes Chitty was for the plaintiff ; Mr Foote, QC and Mr Ingpen for the defendants.
LORD JUSTICE A L SMITH said that he had come to the conclusion that the plaintiff's account of the interview with Mr Williams was the accurate one and that the contract, coupled with the parol evidence, meant that no places for the sale of liquor were to be allowed except on the specified plots.
There must, therefore, be judgement for the plaintiff for £50 with High Court costs
Information transcribed from "The Times", Aug 02, 1899