A tree fell across the highway, injuring the plaintiff.
Held: The claim succeeded. he decay of the tree (which was owned by the National Trust), was there to be seen and the tree should have been felled. Glyn-Jones J said: ‘The duty of the Trust is to take such care as a reasonable landowner – and that means a prudent landowner – would take to prevent unnecessary danger to users of the highway adjoining the Trust’s land. There is not to be imputed in the ordinary landowner the knowledge possessed by the skilled expert in forestry . . But, in my opinion, there may be circumstances in which it is incumbent on a landowner to call in somebody skilled in forestry to advise him, and I have no doubt but that a landowner on whose land this belt of trees stood, adjoining a busy highway, was under a duty to provide himself with skilled advice about the safety of the trees’
Judges:
Glyn-Jones J
Citations:
[1965] 1 WLR 1004
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd v Hind and Another TCC 11-Jun-2014
A train crash was caused when an ash tree fell from the defendant’s land across the railway line. The company sought damages from the land-owner.
Held: The land-owner’s duty extended no further than the carrying out of periodic informal or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Negligence, Land
Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.526448