is an important

English tort law English tort law concerns the compensation for harm to people's rights to health and safety, a clean environment, property, their economic interests, or their reputations. A "tort" is a wrong in civil law, rather than English criminal law, crimi ...

case, concerning the rule in '' Rylands v. Fletcher''.

Facts

Transco plc (British Gas come commercial) had sued the council for repairs of £93,681.55 underneath one of its pipes in

Brinnington Brinnington is a north-eastern suburb of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, on a bluff above a bend in the Tame Valley between the M60 motorway and Reddish Vale Country Park. Description Brinnington was open farm land before the local aut ...

. The ground beneath the gas pipe had washed away when the

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

’s water pipe leaked.

Judgment

The

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

held that because the quantities of water from an ordinary pipe is not dangerous or unnatural in the course of things, the council was not liable.

Lord Hoffmann Leonard Hubert "Lennie" Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann (born 8 May 1934) is a senior South African–British judge. Currently, he serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong; he formerly served as a Lord of Appeal in O ...

, however, remarked on the irony that had the pipe belonged to a ‘water undertaker’ s.209

Water Industry Act 1991 The Water Industry Act 1991 (c. 56) is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament consolidating previous enactments relating to the water supply and the provision of wastewater services in England and Wales. It further implemented recommendations of ...

creates strict liability unless (with further irony) the loss is to a

Gas Act 1986 The Gas Act 1986 (c. 44) created the framework for privatisation of the gas supply industry in Great Britain. The legislation replaced the British Gas Corporation State-owned enterprise, (government or state ownership) with British Gas plc Privat ...

company. Their Lordships protected the rule in ''Rylands v. Fletcher'' but within strict confines. The escape must be of something dangerous, out of the ordinary, which did not include a burst waterpipe on council property. Unlike the Australian High Court, whose abolition of the doctrine in '' Burnie Port Authority v. General Jones Pty'' (1994) 179 CLR 520 was given severe doubt, their Lordships stated their purpose,

Notes

{{Reflist

External links

Transco plc v. Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (2003) UKHL 61
English tort case law English nuisance cases House of Lords cases 2003 in United Kingdom case law 2000s in Greater Manchester Metropolitan Borough of Stockport

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

External links