Legal Definitions - derogation from grant

Derogation from Grant

The legal principle of derogation from grant states that when a person or entity grants a right, property, or privilege to another, they cannot then act in a way that undermines, diminishes, or makes that granted right, property, or privilege significantly less valuable or unusable. Essentially, the grantor cannot give something with one hand and then take away its practical benefit or purpose with the other.

Here are a few examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1: Blocking Access to Leased Property

  Imagine a landlord leases a commercial unit in a shopping center to a new restaurant owner. The lease agreement explicitly includes the right for the restaurant to use a specific rear loading dock for deliveries. After the restaurant opens, the landlord decides to build a permanent storage shed directly in front of that loading dock, making it impossible for delivery trucks to access it.

  This is a derogation from grant because the landlord granted the restaurant owner the right to use the loading dock, which is crucial for their business operations. By building the shed, the landlord has directly undermined and made unusable a key right that was part of the original grant, diminishing the value and functionality of the leased property for its intended purpose.

• Example 2: Obstructing Light to a Sold Property

  Consider a homeowner who owns a large plot of land and sells a portion of it to a developer, knowing the developer intends to build a residential house on that plot. The new house is designed with windows facing the homeowner's remaining land to receive natural light. Shortly after the house is completed, the original homeowner decides to construct a massive, unnecessarily tall fence or wall on their adjacent property, completely blocking all natural light to the new house's windows.

  This constitutes a derogation from grant because the original homeowner sold the land for the purpose of building a habitable house. Their subsequent action of building an obstructive structure directly interferes with the reasonable enjoyment and utility of the property they sold, effectively diminishing the value and purpose of the grant.

• Example 3: Impeding Mineral Extraction Rights

  A large landowner grants a mining company an exclusive right to extract specific minerals from a designated area of their property for a period of 20 years. The mining company invests heavily in equipment and infrastructure to begin operations. A few years later, the landowner decides to develop a new residential housing estate directly over the most accessible and profitable mineral deposits, making it practically impossible or prohibitively expensive for the mining company to access and extract the minerals they were granted the right to mine.

  This would be considered a derogation from grant. The landowner granted the mining company the right to extract minerals. By subsequently developing the land in a way that prevents or severely hinders the exercise of that right, the landowner has undermined the very purpose and value of the grant they initially made.