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Legal Terms - Cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos
[Late Latin: the land belongs to the owner to the top of the sky and the bottom of hell] A proverb that characterizes the vertical extent of a landowner's claim, and is credited to the 13th-century jurist Accursius. It is understood to encompass the substrata, the surface, and *airspace. As a "fanciful phrase and one rejected with a united voice by academics," Justice Bowen rejected this in Wandsworth Board of Works v. unified Telephone Co. (1884) 13 QBD 904. But when it came to oil wells located far below the earth's surface, the Supreme Court upheld the adage in Bocardo SA v. Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd [2010] UKSC 35, [2011] 1 AC 380. The Infrastructure Act of 2015, enacted to approve fracking, has now specifically limited the idea that any intrusion onto territory below the surface will be considered trespassing. Without the landowner's permission, petroleum or deep geothermal energy may be extracted from "deep level land" (defined as being at least 300 meters below sea level) under the Act. Furthermore, the Crown is entitled to certain minerals (like gold and silver) under common law and to other minerals (like oil and gas) under statute. Airspace rights are restricted to the height necessary for the land's typical usage (Bernstein v. Skyviews [1978] QB 479)
[Late Latin: the land belongs to the owner to the top of the sky and the bottom of hell] A proverb that characterizes the vertical extent of a landowner's claim, and is credited to the 13th-century jurist Accursius. It is understood to encompass the substrata, the surface, and *airspace. As a "fanciful phrase and one rejected with a united voice by academics," Justice Bowen rejected this in Wandsworth Board of Works v. unified Telephone Co. (1884) 13 QBD 904. But when it came to oil wells located far below the earth's surface, the Supreme Court upheld the adage in Bocardo SA v. Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd [2010] UKSC 35, [2011] 1 AC 380. The Infrastructure Act of 2015, enacted to approve fracking, has now specifically limited the idea that any intrusion onto territory below the surface will be considered trespassing. Without the landowner's permission, petroleum or deep geothermal energy may be extracted from "deep level land" (defined as being at least 300 meters below sea level) under the Act. Furthermore, the Crown is entitled to certain minerals (like gold and silver) under common law and to other minerals (like oil and gas) under statute. Airspace rights are restricted to the height necessary for the land's typical usage (Bernstein v. Skyviews [1978] QB 479)
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