''Keeble v Hickeringill'' (1707) 103 ER 1127 is a famous

English property law English property law refers to the law of acquisition, sharing and protection of valuable assets in England and Wales. While part of the United Kingdom, many elements of Scots property law are different. In England, property law encompasses four ...

and

tort law A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

case about rights to wild

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

Facts

Samuel Keeble (the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the p ...

) owned property called Minott's Meadow, which contained a pond outfitted with nets and channels in a manner used to catch large numbers of commercially viable ducks. This type of pond served as a sort of "duck trap" and was known as a decoy. Tame ducks were used to lure their wild counterparts into the decoy. On three occasions,

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...

Edmund Hickeringill Edmund Hickeringill (1631–1708) was an English churchman, soldier and author. He was separately convicted of forgery, slander and trespass. Education and career Hickeringill was admitted to St John's College, Cambridge in 1647, graduated BA i ...

, while on his own land, discharged

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

toward Keeble's pond in order to scare away the ducks.

Judgment

Chief Justice Holt Sir John Holt (23 December 1642 – 5 March 1710) was an English lawyer who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Chief Justice of England from 17 April 1689 to his death. He is frequently credited with playing a major role in ...

sustained the

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

trespass on the case The writs of trespass and trespass on the case are the two catchall torts from English common law, the former involving trespass against the person, the latter involving trespass against anything else which may be actionable. The writ is also known ...

, because every person has the right to put his property to use for his own pleasure and profit. If Hickeringill had built a decoy on his own land near Keeble's meadow to draw away ducks (which, in fact, he had done previous to the construction of Keeble's own decoy and may have lent some cause as to Hickeringill's harassing actions), no action could be taken, because Hickeringill would have just as much right to set up a decoy on his own property as Keeble does on his. But, Hickeringill actively disturbed the ducks on Keeble's land, thereby causing damages in that, Furthermore, Keeble had gone through the expense of setting up the decoy and nets, and to allow Hickeringill to disturb the profitable use of the land was bad for commerce. When a person hinders another's use of his own property for profit, it is actionable, even if there is no physical

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery, wounding ...

ing. Thus, Justice Holt concluded that On appeal, made by Hickeringill the verdict was re-affirmed without any change. Keeble won a

verdict In law, a verdict is the formal trier of fact, finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In Engl ...

of £20. In the later House of Lords case of ''

Allen v Flood ''Allen v Flood'' 898AC 1 is a leading case in English tort law and UK labour law on intentionally inflicted economic loss. Facts A trade union official told an employer his members would not work alongside the claimants. The employer was pressu ...

,'' the Lords held that ''Keeble v Hickeringill'' was just a

nuisance Nuisance (from archaic ''nocence'', through Fr. ''noisance'', ''nuisance'', from Lat. ''nocere'', "to hurt") is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public (also "common") ...

case, and not an economic torts case.

References

External links

{{wikisource
Excerpted version of case
from a textbook by

John Henry Wigmore John Henry Wigmore (1863–1943) was an American lawyer and legal scholar known for his expertise in the law of evidence and for his influential scholarship. Wigmore taught law at Keio University in Tokyo (1889–1892) before becoming the first ...

from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

Discussion of the case
by A.W. Brian Simpson, also from Google Books English tort case law 1707 in British law 1707 in England English property case law Lord Holt cases Court of King's Bench (England) cases

Facts

Judgment

See also

References

External links