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''Wheeler v JJ Saunders Ltd''
EWCA_Civ_32is_an_English_
EWCA_Civ_32is_an_English_Court_of_Appeal_of_England_and_Wales">Court_of_Appeal
_
A_court_of_appeals,_also_called_a_court_of_appeal,_appellate_court,_appeal_court,_court_of_second_instance_or_second_instance_court,_is_any_court_of_law_that_is_empowered_to_hear_an_appeal_of_a_trial_court_or_other_lower_tribunal._In_much_of_t_...
_case_on_Nuisance_in_English_law.html" "title="Court_of_Appeal_of_England_and_Wales.html" "title="994
EWCA Civ 32is an English Court of Appeal of England and Wales">Court of Appeal
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...
case on Nuisance in English law">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") ...
which amended the precedent set by ''
Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd
''Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd'' 993QB 343 is a case in English tort law covering nuisance. The council granted planning permission to Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd to redevelop the Chatham Dockyard as a commercial p ...
''. Wheeler was a veterinary surgeon who owned Kingdown Farm House; the wider farm was owned by J.J. Saunders Ltd, who used it for raising pigs. After Saunders gained planning permission for a pair of pig houses, Wheeler brought an action in nuisance, alleging that the smell of the pigs interfered with his use and enjoyment of the land. When the case went to the Court of Appeal, Saunders argued that the granting of planning permission for the pig houses had changed the nature of the area, as in ''Gillingham'', making the nuisance permissible. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, holding that a pair of pig houses was not a sufficient development to change the nature of an area; the centre of the ''Gillingham'' case had been a commercial dock, which was a sufficient development.
Facts
Wheeler was a veterinary surgeon who owned Kingdown Farm House, near
Priddy
Priddy is a village in Somerset, England in the Mendip Hills, close to East Harptree and north-west of Wells. It is in the local government district of Mendip.
The village lies in a small hollow near the summit of the Mendip range of hills, ...
, with his wife. The farm itself belonged to Kingdown Farm Limited, a company 15 percent owned by Wheeler and 85 percent owned by J.J. Saunders Ltd. The two fell out by March 1988, with Wheeler dismissed from his position as managing director of Kingdown Farm Limited. Between July 1988 and April 1990, J.J. Saunders constructed a pair of pig houses near Kingdown Farm House, which featured a channel to contain the pigs' excrement. Wheeler brought a case on two grounds, the first querying whether he was entitled to an
easement
An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...
allowing him to use one of the two ways to access the farmhouse, which involved going between the farmhouse and farm. The second was a claim in
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") ...
, Wheeler asserting that the smell of the pigs and their excrement was interfering with his use and enjoyment of the farmhouse.
Judgment
The case was originally sent to the Chancery Division of the
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...
, before being transferred to Bristol District Registry, where Judge Weeks gave his judgment on 24 July 1992, dismissing 6 of the 10 claims made by Wheeler but awarding £2,820 of damages and issuing 3 injunctions. The case was appealed to the
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Courts of England and Wales#Senior Courts of England and Wales, Senior Courts of England and Wal ...
, where it was heard by
Staughton LJ,
Gibson LJ and
Sir John May
Sir John Douglas May, PC (28 June 1923 – 15 January 1997) was a British Court of Appeal judge appointed by the British Government to investigate the miscarriages of justice related to the Maguire Seven and other miscarriages linked to IRA bomb ...
. The matter of the easement was based on the case of ''
Wheeldon v Burrows
''Wheeldon v Burrows'' (1879) LR 12 Ch D 31 is an English land law case confirming and governing a means of the implied grant or grants of easements — the implied grant of all continuous and apparent inchoate easements (quasi easements, t ...
'', where
Thesiger LJ
Alfred Henry Thesiger PC QC (15 July 1838 – 20 October 1880), styled The Hon. Alfred Thesiger from 1858 to 1877 and The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Thesiger from 1877, was a British lawyer and judge.
Early life
Thesiger was the third son of Lord Chan ...
said that easements would be transferred when they were "necessary to the reasonable enjoyment of the property". The Court of Appeal held that the use of this easement was not necessary for the enjoyment of the property.
On the matter of the nuisance, the defendants relied on ''
Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd
''Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd'' 993QB 343 is a case in English tort law covering nuisance. The council granted planning permission to Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd to redevelop the Chatham Dockyard as a commercial p ...
'', where it was held that the granting of planning permission had changed the area in such a way that what would previously have been a nuisance was not. The defendants argued that the granting of planning permission for their pig houses authorised the nuisance in line with ''Gillingham''. This argument was rejected by the Court of Appeal, which held that the granting of planning permission for a pair of pig houses did not alter the area in the same way that the granting of planning permission for a commercial dock had in ''Gillingham''.
[Thompson (1995) p. 244]
See also
*''
Aldred's Case
''Aldred's Case'' (1610) 9 Co Rep 57b; (1610) 77 ER 816, 558–1774All ER Rep 622, is an English land law and tort law case on nuisance. The case can be seen as the birth of the ordinary man having a cause of action in certain types of environmen ...
'' (1610) 77 ER 816
References
Bibliography
*
* {{cite journal, last=Thompson, first=M.P., date=1995, title=Paths and pigs , journal=Conveyancer and Property Lawyer, publisher=Sweet & Maxwell, volume=1995, issue=July, issn=0010-8200
English tort case law
English nuisance cases
1994 in the environment
1994 in United Kingdom case law
Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases