Defences to PN

Question 1

what is the defence of prescription

Answer 1

-Where a private nuisance continues for 20 years, D may be entitled to claim a prescriptive right to engage in the relevant interference.

Question 2

most common prescription defence

Answer 2

easement

Question 3

what must D show to establish a prescriptive right

Answer 3

1) The interference amounted to a private nuisance throughout the twenty-year period
2) The interference must have been engaged in as of right: i.e., not secretly, forcibly, or without permission of C.

Question 4

prescription case

Answer 4

Sturges v Bridgman- prescription failed as a defence, nuisance began when Cs building was erected

Question 5

defence of statutory authority

what must D show (2)

Answer 5

that interference with C’s rights is permitted either by

(a) express wording in the statute or by
(b) necessary implication of the relevant statute. (To show that it was authorised interference).

Question 6

statutory authority case

Answer 6

Metropolitan Asylum District Managers v Hill

Question 7

Metropolitan Asylum District Managers v Hill outcome

Answer 7

-hospital located in a residential area would be PN- D granted a conditional authority

Question 8

Geddis v Bann Reservoir Proprietors outcome

Answer 8

Private rights should be invaded only where it is necessary to do so

Question 9

Corporation of Manchester v Farnsworth outcome

Answer 9

D will not be liable in private nuisance for the inevitable results of the authorised activity

• D must prove inevitability of interference
• non-inevitable interferences can ground a claim

Question 10

Allen v Gulf Oil outcome

what was the lacuna

Answer 10

• this facility was essential- parliament concluded
• Lacuna (a gap in the legislation): acquisition of land authorised; construction work authorised; but no express authority to use the refinery