Nuisance & Rylands v Fletcher

TOR.08 — Nuisance & Rylands v Fletcher

Private nuisance

An unlawful interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land, or some right over it. Protects land, so the claimant needs a proprietary interest (owner or tenant in exclusive possession — Hunter v Canary Wharf; a mere licensee/family member cannot sue).

Test — was the interference unreasonable? Balance these factors:

• Locality — character of the area (but irrelevant to physical damage: St Helen's Smelting v Tipping).
• Duration / frequency — usually must be continuous; one-off can qualify if from an ongoing state of affairs.
• Malice — deliberate harm tips it towards unlawful (Christie v Davey).
• Abnormal sensitivity — claimant can't rely on unusually delicate use (Robinson v Kilvert); but once a nuisance is shown, recovery isn't limited.
• Public benefit of defendant's activity carries little weight.

Who is liable: creator; occupier (incl. for acts of others they adopt/continue, and naturally-occurring hazards — Leakey); sometimes landlord. Defences: statutory authority; 20 years' prescription. NOT defences: claimant "coming to the nuisance"; that the defendant's act is socially useful. Remedies: injunction (discretionary — Coventry v Lawrence), damages, abatement.

Public nuisance

A crime — act/omission materially affecting comfort of a class of His Majesty's subjects (a class of the public). An individual sues in tort only with special damage over and above the class. No proprietary interest needed. Now also a statutory offence (Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, s.78).

Rylands v Fletcher

A sub-species of nuisance. Strict liability where:

1. defendant brings onto and accumulates something on land,
2. likely to do mischief if it escapes (non-natural use — extraordinary/unusual: Transco v Stockport),
3. it escapes, and
4. causes foreseeable damage (Cambridge Water — foreseeability of damage-type required). Defences: act of a stranger, act of God, claimant's default, statutory authority, consent.

Common traps

• Private nuisance protects land, not the person — no claim for personal injury; Hunter confirms a proprietary interest is essential.
• Foreseeability of harm-type is needed even though liability is "strict" (Cambridge Water).
• Locality is ignored for physical property damage.
• Negligence isn't required for nuisance, but for the Leakey continuing/natural-hazard duty, reasonableness of the occupier's response matters.
• Don't confuse public nuisance (class affected, special damage to sue) with private nuisance.