''Sturges v Bridgman'' (1879) LR 11 Ch D 852 is a

landmark case Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly u ...

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") ...

decided by 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 ...

. It decides that what constitutes reasonable use of one's property depends on the character of the locality and that it is no defence that the plaintiff "came to the nuisance".

Facts

A doctor moved next door to a confectioner, who had produced sweets for sale in his kitchen for many years. The doctor constructed a small shed for the purpose of private practice. He built the shed on the boundary. However, the loud noises from the confectioner's industrial mortars and pestles could be clearly heard, disrupting his use and enjoyment of his land. He sought an injunction. The facts were described by Thesiger LJ in the Court of Appeal as follows,

Judgment

The Court of Appeal held that the fact the doctor had "come to the nuisance", by which the Judge meant moved to an area where the nuisance had been operating for years without harming anyone, was no defence. The doctor's legal right to have the nuisance stopped was not lessened by the confectioner's longstanding practice. The text of

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 ...

's judgment follows.

References

* * {{cite journal , first=Ronald H. , last=Coase , authorlink=Ronald Coase , title=

The Problem of Social Cost "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960) by Ronald Coase, then a faculty member at the University of Virginia, is an article dealing with the economic problem of externalities. It draws from a number of English legal cases and statutes to illustrate Coa ...

, year=1960 , volume=3 , journal=

Journal of Law and Economics ''The Journal of Law and Economics'' is an academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. It publishes articles on the economic analysis of regulation and the behavior of regulated firms, the political economy of legislation and leg ...

, issue=1 , pages=1–44 , doi=10.1086/466560 , s2cid=222331226 Where he argues the case was decided on poor grounds from an economic point of view. 1879 in case law 1879 in British law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases English nuisance cases English tort case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

References