ABSTRACT
Enactments authorising compulsory purchase invariably authorise the public authorities or government departments concerned to purchase land by agreement as well as with the use of powers: some Acts, such as the Open Spaces Act 1906, only authorise the purchase of land by agreement. If an acquiring authority, with the necessary statutory powers, proposes to purchase land with the agreement of the vendor without having first made a compulsory purchase order, the transaction is in many respects the same as any private transaction involving the sale of land. If an authority agrees to withdraw a draft compulsory purchase order in return for the landowner's agreement to sell the land, things may follow. As an agreement might be made at any stage following the confirmation of a compulsory purchase order, all the necessary steps, such as the service of a notice to treat, may have been taken. Land is commonly purchased by agreement with a confirmed compulsory purchase order in the background.
