On The System Of Personal Prejudice In English Tort Law

This article is about the private nuisance in English torts and its interference meaning to China's relative legislation. The judicially approved definition of private nuisance in English torts is 'an unlawful interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land, or some right over, or in connection with it'. Here the word 'unlawful' is crucial to this definition because it indicates that not all interferences with another's enjoyment of land will be actionable; it is applied in an ex post facto manner since the interference normally derives its unlawful nature from the fact that it is held to be a nuisance. It is essential for a claimant to own the land or have some right over, or in connection with it but that doesn't mean all the occupiers have the cause of action whenever his or her use or enjoyment of land is interfered. Some tolerance is the price of the existence of society. The private nuisance consists of physical damages, interference with enjoyment of land and interference with servitudes. Generally it is the unreasonable user who bear the liability and reasonableness is the test for striking the balance between conflicting interests, in which such factors as locality, abnormal sensitivity, duration of the interference, public benefit, malice, natural condition of the land, negligence, etc., are weighed. It's the owner or the occupier who can sue in a private nuisance and the creator of the nuisance, the occupier of the land from which the nuisance emanates or/and the occupier's landlord who are liable. There is no general rule as to the standard of liability applicable in all cases of nuisance. Different circumstances give rise to different standards and judicial pronouncements support both fault-based and strict liability. Statutory authority is a complete defence and act of God or act of a third party may provide a defence in certain situations. There are three possible remedies available to the victim of a nuisance: damages, injunction and a form of self-help known as abatement. The research to the private nuisance in English torts can provide a valuable reference in the development and perfection of adjacent relation system in Chinese civil law.