Public nuisance is the tort that protects the community at large — its comfort, convenience, health, and safety — from interference such as blocked highways, polluted waterways, or hazards affecting whole neighbourhoods. For a solicitor, it matters because it reaches harms that private nuisance cannot: a claimant needs no interest in land, and personal injury is recoverable. Knowing when it applies, and who can bring a claim, lets you advise clients who would otherwise have no route to a remedy.
This lesson works through the tort step by step:
- The Tort and Its Elements — what public nuisance is, its current status after the law was reformed, and the three core elements you must establish.
- Fault and Remoteness — the knowledge-based fault requirement and the foreseeability test that limits recoverable damage.
- Special Damage — the gateway a private claimant must pass through, and the forms of loss that count.
- Standing of Public Bodies — how public authorities and the Attorney General can act for the public interest without proving special damage.
- Defences and Remedies — when statutory authority succeeds, and the damages, injunctions, and abatement available.
- Distinction from Private Nuisance — the key differences in standing and in what losses each tort allows.