WJEC Eduqas A Level Law Book 2 sample

Torts connected to land 31 Trespass in criminal law Trespass originates in civil law. After Parliament grew concerned about many incidents of trespass by protestors, hunt saboteurs, squatters and those attending open-air raves, it created several statutory offences involving trespass, such as the offences of aggravated trespass and squatting in a residential building. Aggravated trespass Under s69 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 , a person commits the offence of aggravated trespass if they trespass on land and, in relation to any lawful activity which persons are engaging in or are about to engage in on that or adjoining land, does anything there which is intended by them to have the effect of: • intimidating any of those persons to deter them from engaging in that activity • obstructing that activity, or • disrupting that activity. Offence of squatting in a residential building Under s144 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 , a person commits a criminal offence (of squatting) if they: • are in a residential building as a trespasser, having entered it as a trespasser • know or ought to know that they are a trespasser • are living in the building or intend to live there for any period. Public nuisance A public nuisance ‘materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of life of a class of Her Majesty’s subjects’ ( Attorney General v PYA Quarries Ltd (1958) per Romer LJ ). Archbold’s definition: ‘A person is guilty of a public nuisance (also known as common nuisance), who (a) does an act not warranted by law, or (b) omits to discharge a legal duty, if the effect of the act or omission is to endanger the life, health, property or comfort of the public, or to obstruct the public in the exercise or enjoyment of rights common to all Her Majesty’s subjects.’ (Source: PJ Richardson (ed), Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice (2015) paras 31–40) A public nuisance differs from a private nuisance on the basis of who is affected by the nuisance. It affects a representative cross-section of a class of society in a neighbourhood . Public nuisance is a crime. Under s17(1) and s1 Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 , public nuisance is an offence which is triable either way. There is no requirement of intention or recklessness in the offence of public nuisance. The fault element is one of foreseeability of the risk of the type of nuisance. The defendant is liable if they knew or ought to have known of the risk of the type or kind of nuisance that in fact occurred. This type of foreseeability was established in the key case Wagon Mound (No 1) (1961) and reiterated in Cambridge Water Co v Eastern Counties Leather plc (1994) . triable either way: an offence that can be tried in either a magistrates’ court or in the Crown Court. KEY TERMINOLOGY