FLK1 · Tort

Nuisance & Rylands v Fletcher

SQE1 revision notes — the key rules, leading cases and common traps for this topic, in plain English and current to 2026.

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:

defendant brings onto and accumulates something on land,
likely to do mischief if it escapes (non-natural use — extraordinary/unusual: Transco v Stockport),
it escapes, and
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.

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A man is a front-seat passenger in a car driven by a friend. The friend drives negligently and collides with another vehicle. The man was not wearing his seatbelt. Medical evidence establishes that had he worn the seatbelt his injuries would have been substantially less severe, though he would still have suffered some injury from the impact. The man sues his friend in negligence. Liability for the collision is admitted. The defendant argues that the man's damages should be reduced because of his failure to wear a seatbelt.

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