Three kinds of private nuisance

• Sets out themes common to private nuisance concerning physical damage to property, intangible interferences, and cases where nuisance is mixed with negligence.
• Includes relevant caselaw.

Is it possible to set out any practical guidance in a summary as short as this as to those rules which govern an action in private nuisance, given the disparate factual circumstances to which this cause of action may apply? The answer is ‘yes’ and that in any event the effort is useful, if not essential, since we can then avoid pursuing inappropriate themes in the wrong types of claims.

This article identifies some elements common to all nuisance claims, but also suggests that distinct themes exist in respect of: (i) physical damage to property; (ii) ‘intangible’ interferences; and (iii) those cases where nuisance has become mixed with negligence. Such a categorisation is not entirely new, but rarely expressed. It constitutes the best roadmap available to enable us to follow judgments from the highest courts and