The Public Right and Wrongs: Tort Theory and the Problem of Public Nuisance

Tort theory over the past two decades has been characterized by a fruitful dialectic between two models. Instrumentalism, especially, in its deterrence mode, has been promoted by a wide coalition of scholars and jurists. In response, various critics of instrumentalism have argued for the autonomy of tort law, first under the umbrella of corrective justice and later under civil recourse. The success of civil recourse depends in part on its ability to explain emerging areas of focus in tort law. One such area is public nuisance, which, despite some setbacks, is viewed by the plaintiffs bar, state actors, and some members of the academy as an effective tool to address significant social problems, such as the opioid crisis. This article asks whether, and how, civil recourse theory can accommodate modern public nuisance law.

Indicators of Drug-Related Community Impacts of Open Drug Scenes: A Scoping Review

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Places where people deal and/or use drugs publicly are known as open drug scenes (ODSs). Drug-related community impacts (DRCIs) refer to drug-related issues that negatively influence public and individual health, communities, businesses, and recreational and public space enjoyment. There are no well-established criteria for identification of DRCIs. We therefore performed a scoping review of literature to determine DRCIs indicators associated with ODSs. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The review was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScP). We searched English articles in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases from 1990 to 2021. The keywords were drug-related crime, drug-related offense, misconduct, social marginalization, homeless drug users, open drug scene, drug-related street disorder, public nuisance, and community impact. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Sixty-four studies were identified. Twenty-five studies were included. Two studies (8%) were about drug-related public nuisance, 1 (4%) considered drug-related social problems, 2 (8%) focused on drug-related social disorder, and 18 studies (72%) discussed indicators of community impacts such as crime, drug-related litter, safety, noise, and drug use in public. Two studies (8%) included the frequency of drug use in ODSs. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> DRCI indicators are heterogenic, and various factors affect the indicators. The factors include social mores, political discourse, and historical approaches to dealing with and using drugs. Some societies do not tolerate the existence of ODSs. In contrast, many countries have adopted harm reduction programs to manage DRCIs. Identified DRCI indicators were drug using and dealing in public, drug-related litter, crime, drug-related loitering, street-based income generation activities, noise, and unsafety feelings in inhabitants. To solve the problems associated with DRCIs and to make a major change in ODSs, it is necessary to pay attention to the improvement of the economic conditions (e.g., employment opportunities), amendment (e.g., determine the limits of criminalization in drug use), and adoption of social policies (e.g., providing low-threshold and supportive services for homeless drug users).

The Diet of a Roosting Population of Asian Glossy Starling Aplonis panayensis in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Communal roosting by urban birds, such as crows, mynas, and starlings, can be a public nuisance due to excessive noise and fouling of the surroundings with droppings. Food availability within proximity to the roosting area is one of the key factors influencing roosting site preference and fidelity. The diets of roosting mynas and crows have been well-studied, yet little is known about the diet of the Asian glossy starling (AGS), Aplonis panayensis. This study focused on assessing the diet of roosting AGS and food resource availability around the roosting area. The AGS diet was assessed through microscopic analysis of stomach contents and droppings. The diet mainly consisted of fruits (76%) with a minor component of animal materials, i.e. ants, snails, and beetle larvae. Intact seeds found in the samples were identified using DNA barcoding. Seven out of the nine plant species detected were new records for the AGS diet. The most common fruit found in the samples was Trema orientalis, which grows extensively along roadsides within foraging areas of AGS. The availability of fruits of different fast-growing pioneer species around the roosting site ensured a continuous supply of food to the birds. Animal materials, which were consumed by chance during foraging, supplemented the fruit in the bird’s diet. Hence, the birds’ preference for the roosting site may have been influenced by the availability of various food resources around it.

12. Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher

This chapter discusses the law of nuisance. ‘Nuisance’ relates to three very different actions: private nuisance, public nuisance, and statutory nuisance. All three are land-related torts, occurring indirectly, and often concern neighbour disputes and environmental wrongs. Unlike negligence, in nuisance the law is concerned less with the nature of the defendant’s conduct than with its effect upon the claimant. Private nuisance must have an element of continuation and damages will not be recoverable for physical injury. The case of Rylands v Fletcher (1868) established a new tort which provided for strict liability of defendants in certain nuisance-related situations.

1. An introduction to the criminal law

It is neither easy to define crime nor identify the aims of criminal law but some characteristics may be universal to every crime, including that it involves public wrongs and moral wrongs. ‘Public wrongs’ reflect the important role of the public in punishing crimes. A crime incorporating a moral wrong implies that a ‘wrong’ is done or harm to others is involved but experience suggests that morality and criminal law are not coextensive. The chapter introduces students to thinking about criminalization and the need to guard against overcriminalization. It also examines the principal sources of criminal law: common law, statute, EU law, international law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Problematically, important and serious offences and most defences in English law derive from common law rather than statute, and some offences—from public nuisance to gross negligence manslaughter—have been challenged recently on grounds of certainty and retrospectivity.

31. Offences against public order (additional chapter)

The Public Order Act 1986 is the principal source of public order offences. These are riot, violent disorder and affray, along with inducing fear of violence and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. Some of the offences in the 1986 Act may be committed in private, but their public order foundations are paramount and these offences should not be treated as merely additional offences against the person. This chapter deals with offences against public order. It also considers harassment, alarm or distress, racially aggravated public order offences and acts intended or likely to incite racial or religious hatred and hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation. The chapter concludes by looking at public nuisance and vicarious liability.

Local Gin: Through the Lens of Ogogoro Consumers

Globally, several studies had established the effects of local gin in human subjects through laboratory, analytical, experimental and objective research methods. There is however a balancing need to investigate the effects from the prism of the consumers. Aim: To explore the pattern of consumption and effects of prolonged consumption of Ogogoro through a participatory model seeking the opinion of consumers. Methodology: Cross section survey of one hundred (100) consumers of Ogogoro with informed consent obtained from respondents. Results Study revealed that Ogogoro has a significant potential to cause heavy drinking as evidenced by 93% of respondents consumes 90mls to 180 mls daily and 88% consumes to oblige uncontrolled cravings. Significant secular and socio-economic effects were found to be quarrelsome, poor physical appearance, always broke, stigmatization, seen as public nuisance and low circle of friends. Conversely, there were low affirmations for loss of job, poor job performance, fighting and loss of friends. Notably, physiological and health effects were found to be excessive urination; loss of weight, excessive sleeping and appetite for food. Conclusion: While the government had adopted a punitive stance, the author opines advocacy on the potential effects and prevention of Ogogoro would be an achievable primordial strategy for potential consumers. Treatment and rehabilitation of existing consumers could aid as a remedial recovery. Upskilling of brewers and modification of the physico-chemical formulae to make less harmful could bring pragmatic solutions.

17. Nuisance

This chapter examines the torts of private and public nuisance. It explains that the tort of private nuisance protects rights in the use of land, rights in the enjoyment of land, and rights in land itself. It permits actions with respect to physical interference with land as well as with sensible personal comfort in its use and enjoyment. The chapter highlights the difficulty in establishing whether private nuisance constitutes a tort of strict liability. This chapter also discusses the elements of public nuisance, which again is a difficult tort to analyse but which is concerned with interference with public rights, such as the right to pass and re-pass along the highway.

The neglected nexus between competition law and human rights: standard of proof for pecuniary penalties

This paper examines the standard of proof applicable in proceedings for imposing pecuniary penalties for violation of competition rules. Australia, New Zealand and the UK have chosen the civil standard. This unfortunately overlooks the safeguards required by the relevant human rights treaties in proceedings that involve the determination of a ‘criminal charge’. Conversely, Hong Kong has adopted the criminal standard, which may prove unworkable in these proceedings in which economic analysis is key. After analysing whether one may set this quagmire aside by asserting that these proceedings do not involve the determination of a criminal charge, it will be argued that the more plausible solution is to accept the criminal charge characterisation, limit the civil standard to the effects-based elements of the charge and apply the criminal standard to other elements. This will achieve a permissible proportionate derogation from the human rights safeguards. Similar bifurcated models have been adopted for charges such as public nuisance and harassment, and have successfully withstood human rights challenges.

The neoliberal governance of heroin and opioid users in Philadelphia city

Drawing on 147 news accounts and five policy documents on the heroin and opioid crisis in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania published between 2016 and 2018, our analysis highlights how media portrayals of opioid users as both tragic victims and public nuisance prompted a schizoid governmental response that draws on rhetorics of treatment and harm reduction to legitimate more punitive interventions. By describing how the state’s quasi-medical responsibilization strategy devolved to fold criminalization into its broader response, we argue the effort to wage a kinder/gentler war on overdose invests in familiar tropes of a recalcitrant drug user class that is a threat to public health. In doing so we provide a basis to critique how drug users are governed in this time of fiscal austerity, resource hoarding, and perpetual, continually evolving drug crises.