The defendants were a Tramway company who were empowered by their Act to lay down and construct two lines of Tramway according to deposited plans, together with the works and conveniences connected therewith. The Act gave no compulsory powers for taking lands and made no special mention of building stables. The defendants constructed the lines, and built some large blocks of stables near the plaintiff’s house for the horses employed in drawing the cars. The plaintiff complained of the smell caused by the stables, and brought an action for an injunction to restrain the defendants from using the stables so as to cause a nuisance.
Held: (affirming the decision of Kekewich J) that although the horses were necessary for the working of the tramways, the company were not justified by the statutory powers in using the stables so as to be a nuisance to their neighbours, and that it was no sufficient defence to say that they had taken all reasonable care to prevent it.
If the noise and the smell from the stabling for large numbers of horses (used to pull trams) is intolerable in a densely-populated residential neighbourhood, it is no defence that the defendant has used all reasonable care to minimise the annoyance.
[1893] 2 Ch 588, [1893] UKLawRpCh 77
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council HL 19-Nov-2003
Rylands does not apply to Statutory Works
The claimant laid a large gas main through an embankment. A large water supply pipe nearby broke, and very substantial volumes of water escaped, causing the embankment to slip, and the gas main to fracture.
Held: The rule in Rylands v Fletcher . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 29 August 2021; Ref: scu.188043