LAWS1003A Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Rylands V Fletcher, Inflammable Material
23 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
Established a principle that came to be recognized as one of strict liability of an occupier of land for the escape of a dangerous object or substance from that land causing harm to the plaintiff. His mine was flooded by an escape of water from a reservoir that had been built on adjacent land by the owner of that land, rylands. Fletcher claimed damages for the loss he suffered by his mines being flooded. (the water came into the mines through a series of abandoned mine workings that stretched from under the reservoir into the current mines. ) Subsequent refinement of the principles in the case included a requirement that the use of land made by the defendant must be a non-natural use of the land. Key element of the tort was that it did not depend on the escape or the damage being foreseeable; if the escape occurred and resulted in damage, liability was strict.
