| Verrall v Great Yarmouth BC | |
| Court: | Court of Appeal |
| Date Decided: | October 10, 11 and 18, 1979 |
| Full Name: | Richard Verrall v Great Yarmouth Borough Council |
| Citations: | [1981] QB 202 [1980] 3 WLR 258 [1980] 1 All ER 839 |
| Judges: | Watkins J Lord Denning M.R. Roskill LJ Cumming-Bruce LJ |
| Prior Actions: | Appellant also lost at High Court. |
| Subsequent Actions: | none |
| Keywords: | Licence relating to property, future event licence for consideration, revocation in breach, unjustified breach, party politics, specific performance |
Verrall v Great Yarmouth BC [1981] QB 202 is a land and contract law case on the arbitrary revocation of an agreed, future licence in land for good consideration.
It also determined whether the remedy of specific performance was available to the claimant, who succeeded in the action and as respondent against the Council's appeal or whether damages would be a more appropriate remedy. It decided that ordering specific performance was appropriate.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council agreed to rent out the Wellington Pier Pavilion in April 1979 to the National Front for its two-day national conference in October. Then Labour won the balance of control on the council in May insisting the new administration revoke the NF's licence. Verrall, the party's deputy chairman, sued on his own behalf and for the NF members for performance of the contract.
Lord Denning MR held that the contract had to be upheld, and was specifically enforceable. Since the case of Winter Garden Theatre Ltd v Millennium Ltd[1] he said, ‘it is clear that once a man has entered under his contract of licence, he cannot be turned out. An injunction can be obtained against the licensor to prevent his being turned out.’[2]