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Essay on Nuisance Law
It is defined as a use of property or course of conduct that interferes with the legal rights of others by causing damage, annoyance, or inconvenience.In strict legal terms nuisance has been generally defined as ‘a condition or activity which unduly interferes with the use or enjoyment of land’ (Clerk, 889).
Nuisance Law: An Introduction
Fifoot (1949) notes that nuisance is one of oldest branches of law dating back to the early assizes and that its ‘very name -nucumentum - suggests the damage which he had suffered by conduct which nevertheless fell short of an actual dispossession’.The courts have identified nuisance disputes as involving a ‘noxious’ or ‘offensive’, ‘unauthorized’ and ‘unreasonable’ use of one’s property that interferes, in a ‘continuing way’, with the use and/or pleasure of another’s property (Buckley, 1996). In economics terms, nuisance disputes may result when the choices of independent agents impact upon the outcomes affecting others; specifically they are one of the possible legal consequences of externalities.
There are two kinds of nuisance suits. These are private and public nuisance actions. A private nuisance means there has been a loss of the use or pleasure of property without an actual physical invasion of that property. An action for a physical invasion of property is known as a trespass action.Irrespective of what the type of nuisance, to be subject to injunctive relief, the interference with the property must be substantial and continuous. Relief that is injunctive in nature generally requires the defendant to take some specific actions to minimize the negative effect of its operations on the plaintiff, from limiting the hours of the action to placing an all out prohibition on the negative action. In constructing its relief, however, most courts will try to balance the relative hardships to both of the parties involved in the action......
