A tribute to a true professional

Citation

Chynoweth, P. (2000), "A tribute to a true professional", Structural Survey, Vol. 18 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2000.11018eaa.001

A tribute to a true professional

A tribute to a true professional

This special issue of Structural Survey is being produced as a tribute to John Anstey. Perhaps more correctly, because this remarkable man made so many outstanding contributions in so many areas of life, it is a tribute to his contributions to the surveying profession.

As regular readers of this journal cannot fail to have noticed, John's particular field was that of boundaries, party walls and rights of light, or, as it is often rather quaintly described, neighbourly matters. As well as practising in this field it is probably no exaggeration to say that he dominated professional development within it for a generation. He founded the Pyramus & Thisbe Club in 1974 as a small debating society and today, with membership numbered in the hundreds, it has become the de facto professional association for all serious party wall surveyors. He was a regular speaker on neighbourly matters and has authored numerous informative and highly readable books on the subject. He was also, of course, largely responsible for the introduction of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. In addition to all this, he was the most prolific contributor that this journal has had in its 18-year history. Throughout this period he contributed over 60 papers and one of these will be found in every issue published between 1983 and the time of his death in 1999.

The autobiographical note he contributed for his first paper, on the case of Marchant v. Capital and Counties[1] in 1983, says much about his endearing self-deprecating humour:

John Anstey is regarded by many, certainly by himself, as the leading party wall surveyor, and he is the founder of the Pyramus and Thisbe Club for party wall surveyors. He first achieved his reputation when he lost the case of Gyle Thompson v. Wall Street in 1973. It grew still further when he lost the case of Bennett v. Howell in 1981. It was briefly threatened when he won the case of Marchant v. Capital and Counties in 1982, but fortunately the Court of Appeal overturned this judgement and thus restored him to his pinnacle. No other party wall surveyor has lost three leading cases in the courts[2].

He could have added that this record probably owed much to his courage in challenging the accepted assumptions, both of other practitioners, and indeed of the judiciary, in circumstances where he often had a clear understanding of the issues in dispute. Indeed, who can argue with John's assertion[3] that the Court of Appeal might well have reached a different decision in Marchant if, like the court at first instance, they had had the benefit of his expert testimony before deciding the case?

It is this willingness to challenge assumptions and to champion what is perceived to be correct – even at the risk of being proved wrong – that is one of the hallmarks of the true professional. In an age where commercial considerations often take precedence we are all the richer for the presence of professionals like John with the ability – and the courage – to defend principles before profit. Whilst others have struggled with long-winded definitions about the nature of professionalism John Anstey, with typical eloquence, summarised the true professional simply as someone who puts the truth first, his client second, and himself last[4].

Of course, only the master of his subject can put the truth first and defend it against those who would seek to give it a different meaning and herein lies the value of professional education. John Anstey may have possessed courage but he also possessed a formidable understanding of the legal and professional principles which underpin the practice of neighbourly matters. Throughout his career, through his talks, his books and the papers published in this journal, he sought to share this with his fellow professionals.

This special issue attempts to continue this work by gathering some of John's earlier papers together with recent papers which reflect the continuing developments in the field. The 15 of John's earlier papers which are included in this issue have been selected for their accessibility and breadth of coverage and those looking simply for his "greatest hits" will therefore, be disappointed. Inevitably much valuable material has been omitted because of the pressure of space and readers are urged to make reference to this too, in developing their own understanding of this subject area. The recent papers address a variety of topics and, this being the John Anstey memorial issue, it is appropriate that at least some of these are a little controversial. The greatest tribute we can pay to John Anstey is surely to keep alive his spirit of debate and I would hope that some of you might like to respond to the arguments in this special issue in future issues of Structural Survey.

Paul Chynoweth

References

1. 1.

   Marchant v. Capital & Counties plc (1983) 2EGLR 156 CA.

2. 2.

   Anstey, J., "The powers of a party wall surveyor", Structural Survey, Vol. 2 No. 3, 1984, p. 224, reprinted in this special issue.

3. 3.

   Anstey, J. and Vegoda, V., An Introduction to the Party Wall etc Act 1996, Lark Productions Limited, 1997, p. 109.

4. 4.

   Anstey, J., "Honour among fees", Structural Survey, Vol. 10 No. 3, 1992, p. 278, reprinted in this special issue.