Appurtenance - Indian Laws - General

Meaning of Appurtenance In Maharaj Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors . [1977]1SCR1072 and has observed as follows,- Appurtenance , in relation to a dwelling, or to a school, college.... includes all land occupied therewith and used for the purpose thereof (Words and Phrases Legally Defined--Butterworths, 2nd edn.). The word appurtenances has a distinct and definite meaning.... Prima facie it imports nothing more than what is strictly appertaining to the subject-matter of the devise or grant, and which would, in truth, pass without being specially mentioned : Ordinarily, what is necessary for the enjoyment and has been used for the purpose of the building, such as easements, alone will be appurtenant. Therefore, what is necessary for the enjoyment of the building is alone cowered by the expression appurtenance . If some other purpose was being fulfilled by the building and the lands, it is not possible to contend that those lands are covered by the expression appurtenances . Indeed it is settled by the earliest authority, repeated without contradiction to the latest, that land cannot be appurtenant to land. The word appurtenances includes all the incorporeal hereditaments attached to the land granted or demised, such as rights of way, of common.... but it does not include lands in addition to that granted . (Words and Phrase, supra). In short, the touchstone of appurtenance is dependence of the building on what appertains to it for its use as a building. So even if it is presumed, as has been argued before us, that there is some land as an appurtenance to a building, then if the word appurtenance has been used in its true sense, it is an integral part of the building to which it belongs, while if the word has been used loosely, it will have its separate existence-quite apart from the building. In either case , its value will riot come in for addition to the annual value of the building. It would not matter, therefore, if under the Corporation Act the annual value of a building includes the value of the appurtenances, for that is really the true annual value of the building concerned. D.G. GOUSE AND CO. (AGENTS) PVT. LTD. VERSUS STATE OF KERALA AND ORS.- 1979 (9) TMI 210 - SUPREME COURT