Law Cases > Tort Law Cases > Private Nuisance Cases

Allen v Gulf Oil

[1981] AC 1001

Case summary last updated at 19/01/2020 16:32 by the Oxbridge Notes in-house law team.

Judgement for the case Allen v Gulf Oil

An act of parliament allowed D to build an oil refinery which caused offensive noise, smell and vibrations to P’s property. However HL held that since the activity was sanctioned by an act of parliament, it could not constitute a nuisance. (NB this doesn’t extend to the decisions of planning authorities- see Wheeler above).

Lord Wilberforce: The basis for this rule is that parliament has performed the exercise fo weighing up public and private interest and made a decision on that basis.

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