Examination On the Law of Nuisance in Uganda's Jurisprudence: Public Nuisance as A Case Study.

Table of Contents

DECLARATION .............................................................................................................. i

APPROVAL ..................................................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION .............................................................................................................. iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................... iv

List of cases Cases ..................................................................................................... v

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................ 1

1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background to the Study ............................................................................ 1

1.2 Problem statement ......................................................................................... 4

1.3 General Objective of the study ................................................................ 5

1.4 Specific Objectives .......................................................................................... 5

1.5 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 6

1.6 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................... 6

vi

1. 7 Research Methodology ................................................................................. 6

1.8 Literature review ............................................................................................ 7

1.9. Significance ofthe Research .................................................................. 14

CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................ 15

Historical overview of public nuisance .................................................... 15

2.1 Definition of Public Nuisance ................................................................. 15

2.2 Early forms of public nuisances ........................................................... 19

CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................... 29

The resentments that makes Public Nuisance a Tort.. .................... 29

CHAPTER FOUR ....................................................................................................... 43

PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS ........................................................................ 43

4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 43

4.2 Findings ............................................................................................................... 43

CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................... 60

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................. 60

vii

5.1 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 60

5.2 Recommendations ........................................................................................ 63

Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 65

ABSTRACT. The general objective of the study is to examine the law on Nuisance in Uganda jurisprudence public Nuisance as a case study It evolved into a low level criminal charge, and then, after the passage of time, into an action allowing either criminal indictment or public injunctions. Still later, private citizens were allowed, in limited circumstances, to sue for damages for the same conditions that gave rise to public actions. Public nuisance, which entails judicial enforcement, had been effectively displaced by the police power, which implies legislative and administrative action. Given accumulated ambiguities about what it means to call something a public nuisance, it was time to begin phasing this law out. The more fundamental objection is that public nuisance never was, and ought not to be, regarded as a tort. It is a public action, and as such should be subject to the control and direction of the legislature. Given the confusion sown by the Restatement, existing statutory authority condemning activity as a "public nuisance" should be interpreted non-dynamically, as ratifying understandings of that term when the law was enacted. For the future, legislatures should avoid speaking of public nuisances, and should instead spell out what is prohibited, the sanctions for violation, and which entities have authority to enforce the law. The notion of public nuisance applied in this way is unconstitutional. However, according to van der Walt, ,Jhis does not mean that evictions based on a lack of compliance with planning laws or on public nuisance cannot or should not take place, but it does mean that such evictions have to be treated with great care and a healthy shot of scepticism and hesitance." The courts should in future, when dealing with an alleged public nuisance, always distinguish between a private and public nuisance to avoid using the two distinct species of nuisance interchangeably