Cases - Stephens v Anglian Water Authority

Record details

Name
Stephens v Anglian Water Authority
Date
[1987]
Citation
3 AII ER 379
Legislation
Keywords
Party walls
Summary

The plaintiff was the owner of a cottage. She claimed that subsidence had been caused to her cottage by the negligence of the defendant water authority in extracting large volumes of water from the land. The Court of Appeal decided that an owner of land had a right to abstract subterranean water flowing in undefined channels beneath his land, regardless of the consequences for his neighbour's land. The plaintiff therefore had no claim in negligence.

The principle set out in the above cases could be very unfair on the innocent adjacent owner who has been deprived of the support of his land. As a result, it has been narrowly applied, so that it applies only to water and not, for example, to silt or brine.