Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 22:26:12 +1100

From: Harold Luntz

Subject: HL retains Rylands v Fletcher

At the same time as they decided the Shogun case (3:2), the House of Lords decided Transco plc (formerly BG plc and BG Transco plc) v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council [2003] UKHL 61, in which they unanimously rejected an invitation to follow the High Court of Australia and absorb the doctrine of Rylands v Fletcher into the law of negligence, though they confined its application fairly narrowly. Lord Hoffmann makes some remarks about the insurance background (and also economic theory) which may further alienate him from some people, but in the end his decision is uninfluenced by these factors.

Harold Luntz.

Professorial Fellow,
Law School,
The University of Melbourne,
Victoria, 3010,
AUSTRALIA.

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