The House of Lords' judgment in the case of Do
Keyeer's Hotel, which was delivered on Monday, ranks with the great historical decisions that, before the war, had secured the rights and liberties of the subject. In this case the Crown claimed the right, by pretbgative, to take a man's property, use it for an indefinite period, and pay nothing. Had such a " right " been substantiated, no citizen would have been, secure in, the possession of his house or his land if a clerk in a Whitehall office chose to say that the house or land was required for "the defence of the realm." The House of Lords, we are glad to say, unanimously repudiated such a monstrous claim. Lord Dunedin and hie 'colleagues declared, first, that the prerogative had not been used in the past to take property without compensation, and, secondly, that the use of the prerogative in such eases had been wholly superseded by the Defence Acts of 1803 and 1842, which provided for the acquisition of land or other property in time of war, as well as by the Defence of the Realm Act of 1914. The War Office will therefore have to pay for the use of De Keyser's Hotel. The owners, who at great expense have &us reasserted the elementary rights of the citizen against the bureaucracy, deserve well cd their country.
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