HUMAN RIGHTS, POSSESSIONS, EXPENDITURE, GLEBE LAND AND THE MAINTENANCE OF CHURCH CHANCELS

Wallbank v Parochial Church Council of Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley, Warwickshire (Court of Appeal; The Times, 15 June 2001)

The word ‘possessions’ in Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights (incorporated into the First Schedule to Human Rights Act 1998) includes money and other financial resources. It follows that statutory or other publicly-imposed obligations which require persons (whether natural or legal) to expend their own money towards the upkeep of endangered property can in principle offend Article 1.