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Liability for Dangerous Activities: A Comparative Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Extract

Hot air ballooning is a dangerous activity, and not only for the balloonist. In Guille v. Swan, 1 a balloonist crash-landed in a New York vegetable garden. When a crowd rushed to his assistance damage was caused to the vegetables. He was held to be strictly liable for the damage caused. Across the Atlantic balloonists were more glamorous although not more successful. In Scott's Trs. v. Moss, 2 the defender, an Edinburgh impresario, arranged a balloon flight by the “world-renowned scientific aeronaut”, Professor Baldwin. The advertisement promised that the Professor would descend by parachute, landing on ground rented by the defender. In the event, he missed and landed in a turnip field owned by the pursuers. Fences and a large number of turnips were trampled by the crowd rushing to the scene. The Court of Session decided that the defender could be liable only on the basis of fault. Foreseeability was of the essence: the pursuer was entitled to damages if and only if the crowd's actions were the “natural and probable consequence” of the defender's activities. Counsel's research had uncovered Guille v. Swan, but the Court of Session declined to follow it into strict liability.

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Articles
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Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 1999

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References

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38. Pt VII.

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82. Ledore c. Gilbertas, CAA Lyon 10 May 1985Google Scholar: “Le gardien d'une chose ne peut s'exonérer de sa responsabilité qu'en rapportant la preuve d'un événement imprévisible et irrésistible.”

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100. I.e. jurisdictions which display a mixture of common law and civil law.

101. RHM Bakeries v. Strathclyde Regional Council 1985 S.C(H.L.) 17 per Lord Fraser at 41.Google Scholar Lord Fraser's words have been cited several times since in the Scots courts. A Scottish Outer House case decided just after Cambridge Water Company, supra n.60 and just before Burnie Port Authority v. General Jones Pty Ltd (1994) 179 C.L.R. 520 restates the Scottish position unequivocally.Google ScholarIn McQueen v. The Glasgow Garden Festival (1988) Ltd, 1995 S.L.T. 211Google Scholar, any line of argument “reminiscent of… Rylands v. Fletcher” was firmly rejected by Lord Cullen at 213.

102. It was suggested in RHM Bakeries v. Strathclyde Regional Council, supra n.101 on the authority of a House of Lords case in 1917, Caledonian Railway Company v. Corporation of Greenock, 1917 S.L.T. 67Google Scholar, that the only circumstances in which the Rylands v. Fletcher rule might possibly apply in Scots law was when a proprietor interfered with the natural flow of a stream. In fact, while several English cases including Rylands v. Fletcher were cited in that case, all were distinguished. (See Lord Wrenbury at 74 “To construct a reservoir on your own land is a lawful act To close or divert a natural line of flow so as to render it less efficient is not. It has never been held that in such a case there is not liability.”) Most of the dicta in that case concerning the basis of liability explain it by reference to fault. Lord Finlay, LC concludes, at 70, that “the appellants, in constructing the culvert, ought to have foreseen the possibility of such an occurrence and to have provided against it.” The rule as formulated in that case derives mainly from analysis of the nineteenth century Scots case law.

103. I.e. type A as identified in pt III above in the context of Rylands v. Fletcher.

104. (1876) 3 R. 461, 464.

105. See for example Nautilus Steamship Co. Ltd v. David Henderson and Co. Ltd 1919 S.C. 605Google Scholar (use of oxyacetylene flame by repairers); Fitzpatrick v. Melville 1926 S.L.T. 478 (storing of poison near public area)Google Scholar; Gilmour v. Simpson 1958 S.C. 477 (use of blow lamp).Google Scholar

106. 1932 S.C(H.L.) 31, 65.

107. E.g. Devine v. Colvilles Lid 1969 S.C.(H.L) 67Google Scholar; D. McIntyre &. Son Ltd. v. Soutar 1980 S.L.T. (Sh.Ct.) 115.Google Scholar

108. Samuel v. Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company (1850) 13 D. 312.Google Scholar

109. Idem, 314.

110. (1857) 20 D. 298.Google Scholar

111. “I never saw a case of such water-works in which the maker had less to say in order to free himself from liability,” idem, per Lord Justice Clerk Hope at 303.

112. Ballard v. North British Railway Company 1923 S.C.(H.L.) 43.Google ScholarA similar approach was adopted in Potter v. Hamilton and Strathaven Railway Company (1864) 3 M. 83.Google Scholar

113. 371 So.2d 810 (La.1979).Google Scholar

114. 1995 S.L.T. 211.Google Scholar

115. Contrast McQueen idem, with the French case of Ghirardi v. société Ruggieri, Civ.(2) 30 Oct. 1989Google Scholar, in which Ruggieri were presumed liable when fireworks stored in their premises exploded prematurely and damaged the Ghirardis' property. See also Ourliac v. Comité des Fétes du Farel, Civ (2) 1 April 1987Google Scholar in which a young boy found an unexploded firework after a fireworks display and was injured when he set it off. The Cour de Cassation overturned the Cour d'appel's ruling that the boy had become the keeper at the relevant time, and that the presumption of Liability had therefore shifted from the fireworks organisers.

116. [1902] A. C. 381.Google Scholar

117. Price, T. W., “Is the Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher part of Roman-Dutch law?” (1953) South African Law Journal 381386Google Scholar; van der Walt, J. C., “Strict Liability in the South African La w of Delict” (1968) 1 Comparative and International Law Journal of South Africa 4983 at pp.6667.Google Scholar

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119. E.g. Nuclear Energy Act 1982.

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121. Supra n.101, at 556, (hereinafter “Burnie Port Authority”). For commentary on this case, see Heuston, R. F. V. and Buckley, R. A., “The Return of Rylands v. Fletcher” (1994) 110 Law Quarterly Review 506509Google Scholar; Dziobon, S. and Mullender, R., “Formalism Forever Thwarted: Rylands v. Fletcher in Australia” (1995) Cambridge Law Journal 2325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

122. Supra n.101, at 547.

123. Their lordships were aware of the decision of the House of Lords in Cambridge Water Company, supra n.60, but did not refer to Lord Goff's restrictive interpretation of “non-natural” use in that case. Indeed, the two dissenting judges in Burnie Port Authority supra n.101, who favoured retaining the Rylands v. Fletcher rule would not in the end have found the Port Authority liable under the rule, for the reason that they deemed the use of the premises which the defendant had authorised to be an ordinary one, and not a “non-natural” one.

124. Idem, at 540.

125. Idem, at 544.

126. Idem, at 591.

127. McLaughlan v. Craig 1948 S.C. 599per Lord President Cooper at 611.Google Scholar

128. Hughes v. Lord Advocate 1963 S.C(H.L.)31. (This Scots House of Lords case was not cited in Cambridge Water Company, supra n.60.)Google Scholar

129. That was already the case in the (now rejected) Australian version of Rylands v. Fletcher. See Benning v. Wong (1969) 122 C.L.R. 249.Google Scholar

130. Burnie Port Authority supra n.101, at 557Google Scholar: “It is unnecessary for the purposes of the present case to express a concluded view on the question whether the duty of care owed, in such circumstances, to a lawful visitor on the premises is likewise a non-delegable one. The ordinary processes of legal reasoning by analogy, induction and deduction would prima facie indicate that it is.”

131. “Although the doctrine of extra-hazardous acts is sometimes treated as an exception to the general rule that a principal is not liable for the negligence of his independent contractor, it is in truth an instance of strict liability for breach of duty of care which the principal personally owes to the plaintiff”, Stevens v. Brodribb Sawmilling Co. Pty Ltd (1986) 160 C.L.R. 16 per Mason CJ at 2930.Google ScholarSee also Stoneman v. Lyons (1975) 133 C.L.R. 550.Google Scholar But while Mason CJ concluded in Stevens that the doctrine “had no place in Australian law”, he was a member of the later court which accorded it recognition in Burnie Port Authority, supra n.101.

132. Noble's Trs. v. Economic Forestry (Scotland) Ltd. 1988 S.L.T. 662.Google Scholar

133. Langley Fox Building Partnership (Pty) Ltd v. De Valence 1991 1 S.A.1(A).Google Scholar

134. See Fisher, E., “Risk, Justice and Independent Contractors: The Demise of the Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher in Australia” (1995) 7 Journal of Environmental Law 199223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

135. 72 Cal.App.3d 516 (1977 Cal.App.).Google ScholarThis case invites comparison with McQueen v. The Glasgow Garden Festival (1988) Ltd, 1995 S.L.T. 211, discussed earlier.Google Scholar

136. Para.423 of the Second Restatement reads: “One who carries on an activity which threatens a grave risk of serious bodily harm or death unless the instrumentalities used are carefully constructed and maintained, and who employs an independent contractor to construct or maintain such instrumentalities, is subject to the same liability for physical harm caused by the negligence of the contractor in construction or maintaining such instrumen- talities as though the employer had himself done the work of construction or maintenance”. Another example of para.423 liability is Maloney v. Rath 69 Cal.2d 442 (1968), 40 A.L.R.3d 1 (motorist liable for negligence of independent contractor in failing to maintain brakes). Improperly maintained vehicles were said to create “a grave risk of serious bodily harm or death”.Google Scholar

137. In Burnie Port Authority, supra n.101, at 558559Google Scholar the duty was non-delegable when “the combined effect of the magnitude of the foreseeable risk of an accident happening and the magnitude of the foreseeable potential injury or damage of an accident does occur is such that an ordinary person acting reasonably would consider it necessary to exercise special care or to take special precautions in relation to it”.

138. See Honeywill & Stein Ltd v. Larkin Bros Ltd [1934] 1 K.B. 191per Slesser LJ at 199Google Scholar: “If a man does work on or near another's property which involves danger to that property unless proper care is taken, he is liable to the owners of the property for damage resulting to it from the failure to take proper care, and is equally liable if, instead of doing the work himself he procures another, whether agent, servant or otherwise, to do it for him.” See also Bower v. Peate (1876) 1 Q.B.D. 321Google Scholar, and McKendrick, E., “Vicarious Liability and Independent Contractors—A Re-examination” (1990) 53 Modern Law Review 770784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

139. In Alcock v. Wraith, The Times 23 Sept. 1991Google Scholar, Neill LJ suggested that the “crucial question” in such cases is in fact whether the activity involved “some special risk or was it from its very nature likely to cause damage”.

140. Langley Fox Building Partnership (Pty) Ltd v. De Valence 1991 1 S.A. 1(A) per Goldstone AJA at 12.Google Scholar

141. Starck, Roland and Boyer, op cit., supra n.3, at paras.500ff.

142. Recueil Dalloz 1960 J. 609.Google ScholarSee also case note by Tunc in 1962 Revue trimestrielle de droit civil 647650.Google Scholar

143. Civ.(2) 25 March 1998.

144. I.e., under Art. 1382 of the Code, discussed in pt IV(a) above.

145. See Faure, M., “Economic Aspects of Environmental Liability: an Introduction” (1996) European Review of Private Law 85110 at p.93.Google Scholar