Drakes v Brathwaite

• Jurisdiction: Barbados
• Court: High Court (Barbados)
• Judge: Douglas, CJ
• Judgment Date: 21 November 1985
• Neutral Citation: BB 1985 HC 75
• Docket Number: No. 504 of 1984
• Date: 21 November 1985

Supreme Court. High Court

Douglas, C.J.

No. 504 of 1984

Drakes

and

Brathwaite

Appearances:

Mr. Ernest Jackman for the plaintiff.

Mr. C.A. Phillips, Q.C. for the defendant.

Real property - Possession — A summons was taken out by the plaintiff for the recovery of possession of a parcel of land and for a declaration that the plaintiff was entitled to possession and that persons in occupation were in occupation without licence or consent — Plaintiff relied on a deed of gift between her great uncle and herself — Plaintiff pleaded that after she became entitled to possession she granted the defendant (her cousin) a bare licence to reside on the parcel of land — That a notice of termination was served on the defendant but he refused to leave — Defendant claimed that there was a family arrangement to entitle him to retain possession of the land — Court found that the defendant had not successfully proven any such arrangement and there was no proof that he had paid 1/3 of land taxes — Order for possession made in favour of the plaintiff.

Douglas, CJ

1 This is a summons taken out by the plaintiff for the summary recovery of possession of a parcel of land at Foul Bay in the parish of Saint Philip containing by estimation 1 rood twenty perches or thereabouts on the ground that the plaintiff is entitled to possession and that the persons in occupation are in occupation without licence or consent.

2 The plaintiff relies on a deed of gift dated the 1st of August 1972 between her great-uncle, Hubert Brathwaite, and herself. In her affidavit in support of her summons, the plaintiff states that the grantor was the owner and was in possession of the land prior to the transfer. Prior to the 1st of August 1972 the great-uncle had granted his sister Gertrude Blades, the mother of the defendant...