Introduction

Five years after originally consulting the public, the Law Commission has recently published its report on reforming the common law criminal offences of public nuisance and outraging public decency.  This note focuses on the proposed reforms to the offence of public nuisance.

Public nuisance is unusual in so far as it is both a criminal offence and a cause of action in tort.  It’s fair to say that public nuisance has divided opinion (at least in its criminal form) for many years; whilst its supporters value its elasticity and ability to address diverse environmental issues, its detractors contend that it is so nebulous that it runs contrary to modern notions of certainty in criminal law.  Certainly, public nuisance has encompassed a wide range of behaviours, from activities which directly impact upon the environment (such as depositing waste on land, as in Attorney General v Tod Heatley [1897] 1 Ch 560) to anti-social behaviour (such as disrupting sporting events).