MARCIC – APPEAL ALLOWED

Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2003] UKHL 66, 4 December 2003

The House of Lords in Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Ltd [2003] UKHL 66, 4 December 2003, has allowed an appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal (on which see our March 2002 issue, pp.1–6) and held that the claimant did not have an action in nuisance against the defendants, nor had his human rights been violated. The crucial ingredient in persuading their Lordships to conclude that the claimant had no right of action at common law was the regulation of the water industry by the Water Industry Act 1991, in particular s94(4). It was held that there was no room for a common law right of action in the light of the intervention of statute and, further, that the recognition of a common law right of action would be inconsistent with the statutory provisions. It was held that the Human Rights Act did not provide absolute protection for the claimant in the enjoyment of his home. Rather, the court had to engage in a balancing act in order to consider the respective interests of the claimant and the wider public. When that balancing Act was conducted it was found that the claimant’s human rights had not been violated and that the statutory scheme set by the 1991 Act complied with the claimant’s human rights.