The plaintiff sued when his horse slipped on tramlines in the road and fell. Stone setts or paving between the rails of a tramway in Grafton Street, Dublin, had become slippery owing to the grit or roughness of setts being worn away. In that state, the paving between the rails was dangerous and a nuisance, particularly when wet. The defendants said that they had no obligation to remedy transient conditions of rain or snow by putting down sand.
Held: The tramway company were negligent in the omission of sanding and as a result were negligent in the maintenance of the pavement. The 1870 Act is to be construed in the context of an interference with the highway. The promoters, ‘while they are permitted to use the public highway, shall take care that the safety and convenience of the public shall be preserved’ and ‘What they have got to keep in good condition is the structure or fabric of the roadway. But the surface is part of that structure or fabric, and, as this is a roadway, a very important part . . .’
Lord Robertson said that the surface of the roadway was part of the structure or fabric of the roadway, and, if the authority used materials having a kind of surface which would be in bad condition in wet weather ‘they must from time to time supply by sand to this material what other materials might of themselves in all conditions supply by the roughness of their own surface.’
Judges:
Lord Halsbury, Lord Robertson
Citations:
[1903] AC 99
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Roe v Sheffield City Council and others CA 17-Jan-2003
The claimant sought damages after his car was involved in an accident when a wheel struck a part of a tramway standing proud of the road surface. The defendant argued that they were excused liability by the 1988 Act, incorporating the effects of the . .
Cited – Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott Macdonald Ltd and others CA 27-Jul-2006
Claims arose from accidents caused by standing water on roadway surfaces after drains had not been cleared by the defendants over a long period of time. The Department appealed a decision giving it responsibility under a breach of statutory duty . .
Cited – Goodes v East Sussex County Council HL 16-Jun-2000
The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road.
Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Negligence, Nuisance
Updated: 18 November 2022; Ref: scu.181215
