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Environmental Law

Environmental Law. Common Law Civil Liability Law of Torts. Environmental Law. Common Law Control environmental damage Primary function to protect private rights Civil action Individual has suffered harm/damage - against Individual / institution which has caused harm Reactive

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Environmental Law

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  1. Environmental Law Common Law Civil Liability Law of Torts

  2. Environmental Law Common Law • Control environmental damage • Primary function to protect private rights • Civil action • Individual has suffered harm/damage - against • Individual / institution which has caused harm • Reactive • Compensatory - damages • Burden of proof

  3. Environmental Law Negligence Advantages • Claimant does not need to have an interest in land • Damages compensate personal injuries Disadvantages • Injunctions are not available; neither are • Pure economic loss & exemplary damages • Necessary to prove fault

  4. Environmental Law Negligence • Definition The omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided upon those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do. Blythe v Birmingham Waterworks (1856)

  5. Environmental Law In order to establish negligence, claimant must prove: • Defendant owes claimant a duty of care; • Defendant breaches that duty (failure to act reasonably) • Breach causes damage to claimant • Duty of care in negligence established in • Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) Must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour • Test of causation

  6. Environmental Law Negligence in environmental law is difficult to prove • Diffuse sources of pollution • Foreseeability of the damage Cambridge Water Co Ltd v Eastern Counties Leather 1994 • Foreseeability of the relevant type of harm / damage In that case supervisor could not reasonably have foreseen damage ie contamination of groundwaters • Proximate relationship between parties • Just and reasonable to impose duty

  7. Environmental Law Negligence • Damage must be proved • Possible to claim damages for physical damage to person or property and for loss consequential to damage but not for pure economic loss Nuisance: Private Statutory = ss79-82 Environmental Protection Act 1990 Private = reconciling competing interests of landowners

  8. Environmental Law Private Nuisance • Conduct must constitute an unreasonable interference with interest in beneficial use of land • Defined in Read v Lyons (1947) as: • ‘Unlawful interference with a person’s use or enjoyment of land or some right over, or in connection with it’ • Reasonableness – Saunders v Grosvenor Mansions and D’Allesandri (1990)

  9. Environmental law Private Nuisance: Acting reasonably? • Court balances competing interests and takes a/c of: • Locality; • Duration; • Sensitivity of plaintiff; • Intention of defendant; • Whole community Forseeability of type of harm/damage (CambridgeWater) Interest in land affected

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