Harm to People and Property

The law does not allow a person to use property in such a way as to cause bodily injury to a neighbour or to damage his or her property. But there is nothing special about the harm caused by a neighbour’s use of land, compared, for example, with the use of a car or a train.

Because there is nothing special about this way of injuring people or damaging their property, ordinary rules of fault liability apply. Although this was unclear in many systems, it became settled in the middle of the twentieth century. Suppose a train explodes, killing a passenger and burning down the house of someone living alongside the railway line. It should not be easier for the neighbour to obtain compensation than the passenger.