Civil Law 1
Case Commentary
The case selected hereby for the discussion is “St Helen's Smelting Co. v Tipping”1. The plaintiff
of the case was William tipping and defendants were directors and shareholders of a company
named “St Helen's Smelting Co.” The matter has been dealt with in The House of Lords and the
date 05th July 1865. The lead judges of the case were Lord Westbury Lord Cranworth and Lord
Wensleydale.
Key facts of the case
The plaintiff brought the action of nuisance under Tort Law against the defendant as due to their
work, an injury happened to trees and crops of the plaintiff. There was a short distance of land
purchased by the plaintiff and the place where the defendant used to carry out their work. A
declaration was made against a defendant where it was alleged that the carried out smelting work
near to the land of the plaintiff which caused a large quantity of vapour and other noxious gases
and due to which fruit, trees, herbage and hedges of a plaintiff injured badly. The lead fact of the
case is the defendant's work existed in the locality before the purchase of land by the plaintiff.
The matter has further been addressed by the court.
Key Points of law
In the trial process, the defendant counsel has put three questions before the court to decide
which were whether it was a “required trade”, whether it was a “suitable place and whether the
work has been carried out “reasonably”. Nevertheless, the lead question, which was to be
decided by the board, was related to the enjoyment of the plaintiff's property. Judge asked for the
1 St Helen's Smelting Co. v Tipping (1865) 11 ER 1483

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The matter has been dealt with in The House

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