Tort - Nuisance

Question 1

What are the two types of nuisance?

Answer 1

Loss of amenity and material damage

Question 2

What case shows that the claimant must have an interest in the land?

Answer 2

Malone v Laskey - the claimant could not make the claim because the house belonged to her husband’s employer

Question 3

What case shows that the defendant does not need to own the land, they just need to have used the land?

Answer 3

Jones Ltd v Portsmouth City Council - Portsmouth City Council (PCC) was liable because they had an agreement to maintain the trees that had caused the damage, even though Hampshire City Council (HCC) owned the land

Question 4

What case shows that a defendant can be liable even if they didn’t create the nuisance, if they know of a danger and allow it to continue?

Answer 4

Leakey v National Trust - the defendants were liable as they were aware that the natural mound could slip and did not prevent it

Question 5

How does the court prove that the defendant’s activity amounted to an unlawful use of land?

Answer 5

Unlawful, in this sense, does not mean illegal, but that it is unreasonable for the claimant to have suffered that particular nuisance. The courts must balance competing interests.

Question 6

In which case did an interference not amount to a nuisance?

Answer 6

Hunter v Canary Wharf - The interruption to TV signal was not sufficient interference because the families had access to other networks and channels

Question 7

In which case did the courts protect feelings of emotional distress?

Answer 7

Thompson-Schwab v Costaki - The Court of Appeal ruled that opening a brothel in a respectable area on London was a nuisance

Question 8

What are the factors of reasonableness in Nuisance?

Answer 8

1) Locality
2) The duration of the interference
3) The sensitivity of the claimant
4) Malice
5) Social benefit

Question 9

What case demonstrates the factor of reasonableness of locality?

Answer 9

Hirose Electrical UK Ltd v Peak Ingredients Ltd - there was no nuisance because the character of the neighbourhood was that off an industrial estate and that type of activity was to be expected

Question 10

What case shows that planning permission might change the nature of the locality but cannot give permission for a nuisance?

Answer 10

Coventry v Lawrence

Question 11

What case shows that where the nuisance causes physical damage, the nature of the locality is
irrelevant?

Answer 11

St Helens Smelting Co. v Tipping

Question 12

What case demonstrates the factor of reasonableness of the duration?

Answer 12

De Keyser’s Royal Hotel v Spicer Bros - the building works constituted a nuisance because it interfered with the claimant’s sleep, even though it was only temporary

Question 13

In which case did a boat constitute ‘land’ and why?

Answer 13

Crown River Cruises Ltd v Kimbolton Fireworks Ltd - because the boat was moored permanently, it became an extension of land

Question 14

What case demonstrates the factor of reasonableness of the sensitivity of the claimant?

Answer 14

Network Rail Infrastructure v Morris - The new railway track circuits interfered with the use of amplified electric guitars, this was not foreseeable and the guitars were overly sensitive

Question 15

What case demonstrates the factor of reasonableness of Malice?

Answer 15

Hollywood Silver Fox Farm v Emmet - the defendant shot guns on the claimant’s property to scare his animals and to prevent them from breeding, this was deliberately malicious and unreasonable

Question 16

What case demonstrates the factor of reasonableness of social benefit?

Answer 16

Miller v Jackson - the cricket club had a larger benefit to the community than the nuisance caused to the claimant’s property

Question 17

What is the case for foreseeability?

Answer 17

Cambridge Water v Easter Counties Leather PLC - the solvents contaminated water 1.3 miles away which was too remote to be foreseeable

Question 18

What are the defences to nuisance?

Answer 18

1) Prescription
2) Volenti non fit injuria
3) Ordinary use of land
4) Moving to the nuisance
5) Statutory authority

Question 19

What are the conditions for prescription?

Answer 19

If the action has been carried on for at least 20 years, and there has been no complaint between them and the C in that time, then the defendant may be said to have a prescriptive right to continue. It has to be between the same parties. The 20 years will not start to run until C becomes aware of the nuisance.

Question 20

What is the case for prescription?

Answer 20

Sturges v Bridgman - the defendant argued that he had a prescriptive right because the factory had been operated without complaint for a number of years. The court decided that the defence of prescription failed as the nuisance began when the new consulting room was built.

Question 21

What is the case for ordinary use of land?

Answer 21

Southwark London Borough Council v Mills - there was no nuisance because the defendants were using their flats reasonably

Question 22

What defence will always fail?

Answer 22

Moving to the nuisance

Question 23

What is the case for statutory authority?

Answer 23

Allen v Gulf Oil Refining - The defendants had been given statutory authority to build a refinery, but not permission to operate it. It was decided that it was Parliaments intention when it gave permission for the defendants to operate a refinery. Since the nuisance was an
inevitable consequence of operating the refinery the defence succeeded.

Question 24

In which case did planning permission change the nature of a neighbourhood?

Answer 24

Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co

Question 25

In which case was an injunction issued?

Answer 25

Coventry v Lawrence - the injunction limited the use of the motor sport track

Question 26

What are the types of injunction?

Answer 26

Total, partial and positive (e.g. having to install a filter to prevent smells)

Question 27

What is abatement?

Answer 27

Entering the defendant’s property to prevent further nuisance - e.g. cutting down overhanging branches (these must be returned to the defendant)