Imagine that you live in the New South Wales city of Goulburn, where Australia’s highest security jail is located. Your neighbours, the Fort-Ward family, are very nervous about the possibility of prisoners escaping from the jail. In 2018, they installed floodlights and motion sensitive surveillance cameras all over their land.
Their floodlights shine into your bedroom at night and their cameras record your movements in your garden and even your bathroom. You have tried to persuade your neighbours that it is very difficult for anyone to escape from a ‘Supermax’ jail, and that their ‘home security measures’ make you feel as if you live inside one. However, they have persistently refused to remove the lights or cameras.
The common law of Australia recognises a tort of nuisance that allows a land owner to sue another person who interferes substantially and unreasonably with their use and enjoyment of their home. After unsuccessfully trying to resolve the dispute using mediation, you consider suing the Fort-Wards for damages in nuisance. You consult your cousin, a lawyer, who tells you that the Liability for Incivility Bill, which is presently before the NSW parliament, contains the following section:
Nuisance (1) No action lies in respect of nuisance by reason only of the installation of reasonable security lighting by a person on land on which their primary residence is located. (2) The maximum amount of damages that may be awarded for nuisance is $20,000, but the maximum amount is to be awarded only in a most extreme case
Their floodlights shine into your bedroom at night and their cameras record your movements in your garden and even your bathroom. You have tried to persuade your neighbours that it is very difficult for anyone to escape from a ‘Supermax’ jail, and that their ‘home security measures’ make you feel as if you live inside one. However, they have persistently refused to remove the lights or cameras.
The common law of Australia recognises a tort of nuisance that allows a land owner to sue another person who interferes substantially and unreasonably with their use and enjoyment of their home. After unsuccessfully trying to resolve the dispute using mediation, you consider suing the Fort-Wards for damages in nuisance. You consult your cousin, a lawyer, who tells you that the Liability for Incivility Bill, which is presently before the NSW parliament, contains the following section:
Nuisance (1) No action lies in respect of nuisance by reason only of the installation of reasonable security lighting by a person on land on which their primary residence is located. (2) The maximum amount of damages that may be awarded for nuisance is $20,000, but the maximum amount is to be awarded only in a most extreme case
