17
Acquisition of Land, paragraphs 4-012, 4-014, 4-109, 4-111,
4-118, 4-153 and 4-178.
44.
Section 63 of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act
1845 laid down no rules for assessment of compensation and it
was not until 1919, as a result of the impact of the First
World War, that statutory rules for the assessment of compensa-
tion were enacted in England.
45.
In assessing "market value" the courts naturally
took into account any restrictive covenant governing the use
of the land but prospective development potential was also
taken into account: see, for instance, Cedar Rapids Manufacturing
Co. -v- Lacoste [1914]A.C. 569 at 578-9. This was the position
in England right up to 1947 when the Town and Country Planning
Act 1947 expropriated for the community's benefit all prospective
development value (subject to payment of compensation from a
£300 million compensation fund), but development value was
restored to owners in full, as of right, in the 1953 and 1954
Acts (see Keith Davies: Law of Compulsory Purchase, 2nd edition.
p. 299-300).
46.
As between a willing buyer and willing seller of
land the price would include a large variety of factors, one
of which may be its potential value for development. To
isolate and quantify this component in the price seems, how-
ever, to be highly artificial and to be contrary to the
concept of market value. Where agricultural land is situated
near a town, development value would, obviously, be an important