Miller v Jackson

Miller v Jackson
Court	Court of Appeal of England and Wales
Full case name	John Edward Miller and Brenda Theresa Miller v. R. Jackson and J. J. Cromerty
Decided	6 April 1977 (1977-04-06)
Citation(s)	[1977] EWCA Civ 6
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Lord Denning, Geoffrey Lane LJ, Cumming-Bruce LJ
Case opinions
Lord Denning, Geoffrey Lane LJ, Cumming-Bruce LJ
Keywords
Nuisance, Negligence: Multitude of the risk

Miller v Jackson [1977] QB 966 is a famous Court of Appeal of England and Wales case in the torts of negligence and nuisance. The court considered whether the defendant - the chairman of a local cricket club, on behalf of its members - was liable in nuisance or negligence when cricket balls were hit over the boundary and onto the property of their neighbours, Mr and Mrs Miller, the plaintiffs.

Initially the Millers won an injunction at Nottingham High Court preventing cricket being played at the ground. This was overturned at the Court of Appeal which decided that an injunction was not appropriate because cricket should be allowed to be played at the club ground. However, it did decide to increase the damages paid to the Miller to account for past and any future damages caused to their property by stray cricket balls. Shortly after the conclusion of the case, the Millers moved house.

The judgment was based on two key point of English Common Law. First that the Millers faced from cricket balls an obvious risk to themselves and their property. Even though the club was unable to foresee when an accident might occur, it was found to be negligent whenever a ball caused damage. Second the repeated intrusion of cricket balls into the Millers' property was deemed to constitute a legal nuisance and therefore was legally actionable.