Scrutton LJ said: ‘When you invite a person into your house to use the staircase, you do not invite him to slide down the banisters, you invite him to use the staircase in the ordinary way in which it is used.’ and ‘Another distinction is that in a highway by land one proceeds by physical contact, but in water one proceeds by floating along in the water and it is only in special circumstances that there is any right to ground or sit on the bottom of a river just as there is no right to sit in the middle of a road and say one is exercising a right to use a public roadway.’
Judges:
Scrutton LJ
Citations:
[1927] P 93
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Thames Heliport Plc v London Borough of Tower Hamlets CA 28-Nov-1996
The use of a tethered barge as a heliport constituted a change of use of the land under the river. . .
Cited – Keown v Coventry Healthcare NHS Trust CA 2-Feb-2006
The claimant a young boy fell from a fire escape on the defendant’s building. He suffered brain damage and in later life was convicted of sexual offences.
Held: His claim failed: ‘there was no suggestion that the fire escape was fragile or had . .
Cited – Geary v JD Wetherspoon Plc QBD 14-Jun-2011
The claimant, attempting to slide down the banisters at the defendants’ premises, fell 4 metres suffering severe injury. She claimed in negligence and occupiers’ liability. The local council had waived a requirement that the balustrade meet the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Torts – Other, Land
Updated: 14 May 2022; Ref: scu.238291