header-logo header-logo

Untangling the law on nuisance

29 March 2024 / John Campbell , James Saunders
Issue: 8065 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Nuisance
printer mail-detail
166024
Recent cases have triggered twists & turns in nuisance law. John Campbell & James Saunders straighten things out
  • Fearn and others v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery [2023] and the Japanese knotweed cases show the law on nuisance is evolving.
  • It has now been established that it is not a defence to a claim for nuisance that the defendant was already using their land in the way now complained of before the claimant began to occupy the neighbouring land.
  • Nor is it a defence that the defendant’s activity did not amount to a nuisance at all until the claimant’s land was built upon or its use was changed.

The law of private nuisance has troubled the UK’s highest courts with unusual frequency in recent years. As a creature of the common law, in times where space in major cities is at a premium and the pressure on undeveloped land is high, this is perhaps not surprising. This article looks at some of the recent major decisions

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll