private nuisance

• an unlawful interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land coming from neighbouring land
• Hunter v Canary Wharf


  claimant must have legal interest in the land (eg not children)
• Tetley v Chitty


  the person causing, or allowing the nuisance can be sued
• Sedleigh Denfield v O'Callaghan 


  liable if know about a problem and fail to deal with it, even if didn't create it
• claimant must prove 3 things


  1. indirect interference with enjoyment of land
  2. interference must be unreasonable
  3. claimant has suffered damage as a result of interference
• examples


  noise or vibrations (Sturges v Bridgeman), smoke and fumes (St Helens Smelting Co), and smells (Bliss v Hall)
• Sturges v Bridgman


  character of the neighbourhood needs to be considered
• Crown River Cruises v Kimbolton


  a short term activity can be a nuisance if its unreasonable
• Sturges v Bridgman


  courts accept a range of indirect interferences such as noise or vibrations
• Robinson v Kilvert


  if the claimant is particularly sensitive then there may not be a nuisance
• Network Rail


  the sensitivity of the c is moving towards a test of foreseeability
• Hollywood Silver Fox Farm


  malice, a deliberately harmful act will normally be unreasonable and considered a nuisance
• Miller v Jackson


  social benefit provided to community may not be a nuisance
• Sturges v Bridgeman


  defences include prescription
• Miller v Jackson


  moving to the nuisance
• Allen v Gulf Oil


  statutory authority
• Coventry v Lawrence


  d can raise permission but may not be an absolute defence
• Wheeler v Saunders


  planning permission may be a defence if the character of the neighbourhood has changed
• St Helens Smelting Co


  the interference must cause damage, discomfort or inconvenience will be sufficient
• Hunter v Canary Wharf


  loss of recreational facility is not enough
• Hatton v UK


  interferes with human rights
• Kennaway v Thompson


  prohibitory injunctions, ordering d to stop causing nuisance

  can be positive
• Shelfer test


  damage over injunction if injury is small, and can be compensated by small amount of money and would be unfair to grant injunction
• Coventry v Lawrence


  injunction could be a default order but it's open to defendant to argue damages would be suitable alternative
• Lemmon v Webb


  abatement, entering D's premises in order to prevent further nuisance