Nuisance: Private, Public and the Rule in Rylands v Fletcher
Nuisance protects the use and enjoyment of land; Rylands v Fletcher imposes strict liability for escapes from land. The examination skill is choosing between them and stating the correct elements.
Private nuisance
An unlawful and substantial interference with the claimant's use or enjoyment of land. Unlawfulness is judged by reasonableness, weighing:
- Locality: Sturges v Bridgman - a noisy confectionery in a residential area; coming to the nuisance is no defence.
- Duration and frequency: a single isolated act is rarely actionable unless physical damage occurs.
- Magnitude: physical damage to land or crops weighs heavily (St Helen's Smelting v Tipping).
- Sensitivity: abnormal sensitivity of the claimant's use does not create liability (Robinson v Kilvert).
- Malice: spite can make otherwise trivial conduct unreasonable (Christie v Davey; Hollywood Silver Fox v Emmett).
- Public benefit: useful activities are not automatically excused. Only those with a proprietary or possessory interest can sue (Hunter v Canary Wharf); the occupier or creator is the usual defendant. Defences: prescription (twenty years' continuance), statutory authority, and consent. Remedies include damages and injunctions.
Public nuisance
An unlawful act or omission endangering the life, health, property or comfort of a class of Her Majesty's subjects. It is a crime; an individual can sue only with the Attorney-General's consent or by proving special damage over and above that suffered by the class (R v Rimmington). Obstruction of a highway is the classic example.
Rylands v Fletcher
Liability arises where the defendant brings onto his land, and accumulates, something likely to do mischief if it escapes, in the course of a non-natural use, and it escapes and causes damage. Cambridge Water v Eastern Counties Leather added that the type of damage must be foreseeable, and Transco plc v Stockport MBC confirmed that personal injury is not covered. Defences: act of God, act of a stranger, consent of the claimant, and statutory authority. In Ghana, environmental legislation such as the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1994 (Act 490) sits alongside these common law actions.
Worked example
A factory emits fumes that kill a neighbouring farmer's crops. This is private nuisance (physical damage to land, locality irrelevant where damage is physical), and negligence need not be shown. An injunction is the usual remedy; damages may be awarded in lieu where the activity has great public utility and the injury can be compensated.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing nuisance with negligence; forgetting the proprietary interest requirement; treating Rylands as a general strict liability rule after Cambridge Water; and overlooking the special damage requirement in public nuisance.