Private nuisance is defined as any substantial and unreasonable interference with the claimant’s land, or with his rights to peaceful enjoyment of that land and any right that exists in connection with it. It need not result from ‘direct’ or ‘intentional’ interference; it is sufficient that the defendant have ‘adopted or continued’ a state of affairs that constitutes an unreasonable interference. This chapter discusses the basis of liability in private nuisance; the concept of unreasonable interference and the difference between this concept and the notion of ‘reasonableness’ in negligence; who can sue and who can be sued; defences; and remedies. It also discusses, in outline, public nuisance; the relationship between nuisance and other forms of liability; and nuisance and protection of the environment.
Chapter
13. Nuisance
Chapter
St Helen’s Smelting Co. v Tipping [1865] 11 ER 642
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in St Helen’s Smelting Co. v Tipping [1865] 11 ER 642. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
Chapter
Rylands v Fletcher (1868) LR 3 HL 330
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Rylands v Fletcher (1868) LR 3 HL 330. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
Chapter
St Helen’s Smelting Co. v Tipping [1865] 11 ER 642
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in St Helen’s Smelting Co. v Tipping [1865] 11 ER 642. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
Chapter
Rylands v Fletcher (1868) LR 3 HL 330
Essential Cases: Tort Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Rylands v Fletcher (1868) LR 3 HL 330. The document also included supporting commentary from author Craig Purshouse.
Chapter
17. Actions under Rylands v Fletcher
This chapter first looks at the idea of there being a form of strict liability for the escape of things brought onto and kept on land, arising from the case of Rylands v Fletcher. It continues by looking at the concept of ‘adopting a nuisance’; that is, allowing a nuisance on land to continue or failing to remove a natural hazard on land that ought to have been removed or been attended to, for example in order to prevent a one-off escape. Cases in this area have led to the existence of a ‘measured duty of care’, seemingly bringing the land torts closer to negligence.
Chapter
23. Freehold Covenants
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter investigates how certain covenants relating to land between freehold owners can overcome the normal privity of contract rule and be enforced by and against third parties. Restrictive covenants significantly control land use and supplement and complement public planning laws. The burden of a negative covenant will not run at common law, but may run in equity by virtue of the rule in Tulk v Moxhay. The benefit of a restrictive covenant will run if it is: expressly assigned; annexed to the land; or subject to a building scheme. The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has jurisdiction under s 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 to modify or extinguish restrictive covenants. Reform recommendations offer a final acknowledgement that both negative and positive covenants affecting land should be ‘genuine proprietary interests’ rather than ‘a peculiar species of personal contract’.
Chapter
8. Constructive trusts and informal trusts of land
Constructive trusts differ from express trusts in many ways. Whereas an express trust gives effect to an owner’s intention to transfer a beneficial interest in his property, a constructive trust may be imposed directly contrary to the owner’s intentions. Another distinction between an express trust and a constructive trust is that the former is unenforceable unless it is evidenced in writing, whereas the latter is created and operates without formality. However, express and constructive trusts, by their very nature as trusts, have a number of similar features, the most fundamental being the presence of ascertainable property, in which a beneficiary has a proprietary interest for which the trustee is personally liable to account. This chapter examines the nature, operation, and variety of constructive trusts, and also considers one special category of constructive trusts: informal trusts of land. In addition, it discusses commonwealth jurisdictions and proprietary estoppel.
Chapter
17. Actions under Rylands v Fletcher
This chapter first looks at the idea of there being a form of strict liability for the escape of things brought onto and kept on land, arising from the case of Rylands v Fletcher. It continues by looking at the concept of ‘adopting a nuisance’; that is, allowing a nuisance on land to continue or failing to remove a natural hazard on land that ought to have been removed or been attended to, for example in order to prevent a one-off escape. Cases in this area have led to the existence of a ‘measured duty of care’, seemingly bringing the land torts closer to negligence.
Chapter
23. Freehold Covenants
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter investigates how certain covenants relating to land between freehold owners can overcome the normal privity of contract rule and can be enforced by and against third parties. Restrictive covenants significantly control land use and supplement and complement public planning laws. The burden of a negative covenant will not run at common law, but may run in equity by virtue of the rule in Tulk v Moxhay. The benefit of a restrictive covenant will run if it is: expressly assigned; annexed to the land; or subject to a building scheme. The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has jurisdiction under s 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 to modify or extinguish restrictive covenants. Reform recommendations offer a final acknowledgement that both negative and positive covenants affecting land should be ‘genuine proprietary interests’ rather than ‘a peculiar species of personal contract’.
Chapter
8. Constructive trusts and informal trusts of land
Constructive trusts differ from express trusts in many ways. Whereas an express trust gives effect to an owner’s intention to transfer a beneficial interest in his property, a constructive trust may be imposed directly contrary to the owner’s intentions. Another distinction between an express trust and a constructive trust is that the former is unenforceable unless it is evidenced in writing, whereas the latter is created and operates without formality. However, express and constructive trusts, by their very nature as trusts, have a number of similar features, the most fundamental being the presence of ascertainable property, in which a beneficiary has a proprietary interest for which the trustee is personally liable to account. This chapter examines the nature, operation, and variety of constructive trusts, and also considers one special category of constructive trusts: informal trusts of land. In addition, it discusses commonwealth jurisdictions and proprietary estoppel.
Chapter
9. Easements
This chapter examines easements and how they relate to the content, acquisition and defences questions. Easement refers to the right of a landowner to enjoy a limited use of neighbouring land. An essential feature of an easement is the need for two pieces of land: the dominant land to which the benefit of the easement is attached and the servient land over which the easement is exercised. This chapter considers the four defining characteristics of an easement: there must be two distinct areas of land — dominant land and servient land; the dominant and servient land must be owned by different people; the easement must ‘accommodate’ the dominant land; and the right must be capable of forming the subject matter of a grant. It also discusses, in relation to the acquisition question, the express and implied creation of an easement, as well as the involuntary acquisition of an easement through prescription. It concludes by considering with the defences that can defeat an easement.
Chapter
9. Informal Arrangements Relating to Land
Paul S Davies and Graham Virgo
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter refers to informal arrangements relating to land and related transactions that fail to comply with statutory formality requirements. Through a number of equitable mechanisms, these transactions may be rendered effective. It must be noted that trusts of land are only enforceable when they are evidenced by signed writing and meet certain formality requirements relating to the disposition of land. Verbal contracts for the sale of land are, therefore, considered void. Equity may have a role to play in rendering a transaction effective where parties have entered into informal arrangements relating to property, and this has been recognized explicitly by statute. Trusts of land and contracts for the sale of land play a significant role in validating informal arrangements relating to property, as does the doctrine of proprietary estoppel.
Chapter
26. What is land?
Course-focused and comprehensive, the Textbook on Land Law provides an accessible overview of one key area on the law curriculum. This chapter discusses the definition of ‘land’. It covers the statutory definition; earth, minerals, buildings, and fixtures; hereditaments; real and personal property; and flying freehold. It also addresses hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The chapter concludes with some remarks about a practical approach to land law.
Chapter
4. Registered Title and the Acquisition of Legal Estates
This chapter examines both the acquisition question and the content question in relation to legal estates within the context of the Land Registration Act 2002. More specifically, it considers how legal estates in land are created and transferred. It also explores the principles that lie behind the registration of title as well as the content of a registered title. After describing the formal acquisition of legal estates, the chapter focuses on the content of a registered title. It then analyses the extent to which a registered title is indefeasible in the light of case law on the effect of fraudulent transactions. It also explains how legal estates can be acquired informally through adverse possession and concludes with a discussion of the human rights aspect of adverse possession.
Chapter
12. Concepts and Contexts
This chapter explores some of the wider issues raised by the rules applying to private rights to use land, along with the nature of the challenges faced by judges and Parliament when deciding how best to develop those rules. It begins by discussing the importance of concepts and contexts in land law, as well as the tension between concepts and contexts and the effect of different judicial approaches to land law. It then considers the relative merits of judicial and legislative reform of land law and goes on to examine the impact of statutory reform, particularly of registration statutes, in land law. It also assesses the impact of human rights and regulation on land law, citing the Supreme Court ruling in Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd (2015), before concluding with an analysis of the role of non-doctrinal approaches in evaluating land law.
Chapter
3. Personal Rights and Property Rights
This chapter examines property rights in land and personal rights that may allow a party to make a particular use of land. It first considers the distinction between personal rights and property rights before addressing the content question: whether the type of right claimed by a party counts as a property right. To answer that question, a distinction is made between different types of property right. The most important distinction is between legal property rights, on the one hand, and equitable property rights, on the other. The chapter also discusses licences to use land and contrasts their operation and effect with those of property rights in land. It highlights the nature of licences and the controversy over contractual and estoppel licences and concludes with an analysis of the relationship between the law of leases and of licence.
Chapter
16. Trespass to land and nuisance
This chapter considers two ‘land torts’: trespass to land and private nuisance. Trespass to land protects a person in possession of land against direct invasion of his property. The right to sue includes not only those with a proprietorial interest in the land, such as owners and tenants, but also those who have exclusive occupation such as squatters. The fact that any invasion of land, however minute and whether it causes damage or not, is a trespass, indicates that the primary function of this tort is to protect rights in property, rather than simply to provide compensation. The chapter continues by distinguishing between public and private nuisance. It then discusses the interests protected in private nuisance; the standard of reasonable user; the person(s) liable for nuisance; remoteness of damage; statutory authority and planning permission; and the effect of the Human Rights Act 1998 on nuisance claims.
Chapter
25. Security Interests in Land
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter reviews the use of land (or legal and equitable property rights relating to land) as security for the repayment of money by a borrower to a lender. It also describes charging orders, the use of which increases in the context of a recession. There are four types of security interest: the pledge; the lien; the mortgage; and the charge. The borrower holds the equity of redemption under a classic mortgage by conveyance or sub-demise, but the continued relevance of the concept of an equity of redemption under the predominant legal charge by way of mortgage is questionable. It is observed that the domestic lending market has seen the development of Islamic mortgages, the emergence of shared-ownership schemes, and equity release schemes.
Chapter
26. Lenders’ Rights and Remedies
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter concentrates on the rights and powers conferred upon the lender to enforce its security over land. A lender’s rights and remedies arise from the nature of its security, the powers implied by the Law of Property Act 1925, and any express powers. The lender’s right to take possession originated at common law, but is now conferred by s 87(1) of the 1925 Act. The lender’s power of sale and to appoint a receiver are implied by s 101(1)(i) and (iii) of the 1925 Act, respectively, and can only be exercised if the borrower has defaulted. The duties that a lender or receiver owes when selling the mortgaged property are explained, as well as the position of a purchaser from a lender or receiver where there has been a breach of duty.
