“Malicious noise-making constitutes actionable nuisance despite otherwise reasonable activity”
Christie was a music teacher who gave piano lessons in his home. His neighbor Davey became annoyed by the music and began deliberately making loud noises - banging on walls, shouting, and whistling - to disrupt the lessons and annoy Christie. Christie sought an injunction to stop Davey's noise-making.
Whether deliberately making noise with the malicious intent to annoy a neighbor constitutes actionable nuisance, even where the noise level might otherwise be reasonable.
The court granted an injunction against Davey. His malicious noise-making constituted an actionable nuisance.
This case establishes that malicious motive can make otherwise reasonable activities actionable in nuisance law. It demonstrates that the defendant's purpose and intent are relevant factors in determining what constitutes unreasonable interference with land use.
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OSCOLA Citation
Christie v Davey [1893] 1 Ch 316
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