BURMAH OIL V LORD ADVOCATE [1965] AC 75

Facts: The House of Lords had to consider the extent to which government could destroy property in wartime. In 1943, during WW2, the British Government ordered destruction of Burmah Oil refinery to prevent it falling in the hands of the Japanese. After war the Government offered small compensation to Burmah Oil for doing this, so they took the Government to court arguing that the Prerogative powers they acted under meant they should get more compensation

Held: The Judges wrestled with the idea of the prerogative. Lord Reid said “it is extremely difficult to be precise” when deciding how far the Government’s royal prerogative powers go. Nevertheless, the majority of the House of Lords held in favour of Burmah Oil: although the Governement were allowed to destroy the refinery using the prerogative powers, they still had to pay decent compensation for doing so