#4662 - Public Nuisances - GDL Tort Law

Public nuisances: ‘acts or omissions of the defendant that materially affect the reasonable comfort and convenience of life of a class of Her Majesty’s subjects’ (Attorney General v PYA Quarries)

• More specific definition difficult – Denning: public nuisance ‘ covers a multitude of sins, great and small’ (Southport Corporation v Esso Petroleum)

• Public nuisance is a crime but can also sometimes be a tort

• Most areas now regulated by statute – e.g. s79 Environmental Protection Act 1990

  • Obstruction of Her Majesty’s Highway (most common)– now regulated by highways legislation

‘Materially affects comfort and convenience’

• Interference must be ‘material’ – more than just slight/trivial

• No need for actual damage – annoyance/irritation can be sufficient

• Claimants must show that they have suffered special damage

‘Class of Her Majesty’s subjects’

• Necessary to show that the effect of the nuisance is ‘sufficiently widespread’: no exact number of people that need to be affected

• Depends on the facts of the case: Attorney General v Hastings Corporation - R v Rimmington

Omissions

• Liability can exist for omissions as well as acts – so could be preferable to sue for this rather than negligence

One-off event

• CAN be a one-off or isolated event (unlike private)

Need not involve interference with the enjoyment of the land: unlike private nuisance the claimant doesn’t need to have an interest in land

Examples:

• Attorney General of Ontario v Orange – A pop festival

• Rose v Miles – Blocking a canal

• Thomas v NUM – Picketing on a Highway

• Castle v St Augustine’s Link – Golf balls being hit onto the highway

• R v Shorrock – An “acid house” party

  • ‘local police received approximately 275 telephone complaints’ – some from 4 miles away

• Wandsworth LBC v Railtrack plc – pigeons roosting under a bridge amounted to public nuisance

• Corby v Corby District Council: carrying waste in uncovered vehicles - higher number of average birth defects in the local population where council allowed lorries to carry uncovered waste

Who can Sue?

An individual:

• Only in very limited circumstances: must show that he has suffered damage over and above the rest of his class (“special damage”)

  • Lyons & Sons Co. v Gulliver

  • Dymond v Pearce

  • Castle v St. Augustine’s Links Golf Club

  • Still necessary for wide class to be affected

• Distinction from private nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher – need not have an interest in land

  • Tate and Lyle v GLC – C was able to recover cost of dredging the river approach to a jetty it used which had silted up because the D built a new ferry terminal (didn’t own river)

  • Campbell v Paddington Corporation – stand for coronation parade

Local Authority: May sue on its own behalf

Attorney General: Relator Action: AG may bring on behalf of a class affected (or on behalf of authority)

Remember that the claimant DOES NOT need a proprietary or possessionary interest in the land

Who can be sued?

• Little debate (as so rare) – tortfeasor is usually easily identified - the person responsible for the nuisance

Damage

• Includes property damage – but as opposed to private nuisance – personal injury can also be recovered

• Also possible to claim for pure economic loss – Rose v Miles – where a blocked river caused the claimant extra cost in transporting goods across land

Statutory Nuisance

• Both nuisances and criminal offences created by stature

1. Highway Nuisances: most common and include obstruction and having dangerous premises near a highway

• Lyons, Sons & CO. v Gulliver

• S. 41 Highways Act 1980 : duty to maintain the highways placed on various public authorities – Cross v Kirkless MBC

b) Public Health – largely controlled by statute – e.g. s. 79 Environment Protection Act 1990

Defences

1. Statutory Authority

• Main defence – statutory authority: prescription is not a defence as a person cannot accede to a crime (but may be a defence of contributory negligence)

• Gillingham Borough Council v Medway

2. Act of a stranger

• Wringe v Cohen

• Prescription not available

3. Contributory negligence

Remedies include:

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