Private nuisance

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1895

Principle established: Motive is generally irrelevant in tort: a lawful act does not become a tort because it is done maliciously.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1893

Principle established: Acts done only to annoy a neighbour can be unreasonable and so a nuisance.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1920-36

Principle established: An owner of a rotting tree overhanging neighboring property is liable in negligence and nuisance if aware of its dangerous condition, and failure to abate the nuisance does not bar an action for damages.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 2014

Principle established: Planning permission is not a defence in itself. Coming to the nuisance is not a defence. Courts have a wide discretion to award damages instead of an injunction.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1961

Principle established: Smells and noise can be private nuisance. Damage to a car parked on the public road was public nuisance causing special damage.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1936

Principle established: Noise made deliberately to harm a neighbour is a nuisance.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1997

Principle established: Only a person with an interest in the land, such as an owner or tenant, can sue in private nuisance. Simply building on your land so as to block TV signals is not actionable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1980

Principle established: An occupier must take reasonable steps, judged by his own resources, to prevent a known natural hazard harming neighbours.

Sierra Leone — African Law Reports · 1972-73

Principle established: The projection of building eaves over adjoining land constitutes an actionable nuisance rather than a trespass, and liability is established upon proof of encroachment without requiring proof of negligence or actual damage.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1977

Principle established: Where harm is likely and recurring, failing to prevent it is a breach.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1950

Principle established: Where a structure encroaches onto a neighbour's land, the proper remedy, determined by the balance of convenience, may include an order for the removal of the encroaching portion.

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1950

Principle established: Where a structure unlawfully encroaches on a neighbour's property, the court may order the removal of the encroaching portion based on the balance of convenience.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1970

Principle established: A mandatory injunction is granted only where there is a very strong probability of grave future damage. The order must be clear about what the defendant must do.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1889

Principle established: A claimant cannot complain of harm that happens only because his property or use is abnormally sensitive.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1940

Principle established: An occupier who knows of a nuisance created by another and 'continues' or 'adopts' it, by failing to take reasonable steps to end it, is liable.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1895

Principle established: Damages in lieu of an injunction may be given where the harm is small, can be valued in money, can be adequately compensated by a small payment, and an injunction would be oppressive.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1865

Principle established: Where nuisance causes physical damage to property, the character of the neighbourhood is no defence. Locality matters only for nuisance that causes discomfort.

Lanbuk on the Law of Torts · 1879

Principle established: It is no defence that the claimant came to the nuisance. No prescriptive right arose because the noise was not an actionable nuisance until the room was built. 'What would be a nuisance in Belgrave Square would not necessarily be so in Bermondsey.'

Sierra Leone — Court of Appeal · 1973

Principle established: A party claiming a declaration of title in fee simple must establish at least forty years' good root of title, and an overhanging cornice constitutes nuisance rather than trespass.