Gillick v O'Reilly

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1984
• Date: 01 January 1984
• Court: High Court

(H.C.)

Gillick

and

O'Reilly

Road traffic accident -Cattle straying - Driver colliding with cattle which had strayed onto main road - Whether cattle constituted a public nuisance - Whether defendants negligent - Whether under a duty to prevent cattle straying onto public road.

The plaintiff was injured when his motor-car collided at night on a main road with a bullock owned by the defendant. The animal was one of a herd that had strayed on to the road through an open gate. The evidence did not establish who had left the gate open. The collision occurred as the cattle, having been found by the defendant's neighbour, were being guided back along the road by him and another man. The plaintiff asserted that the two men were acting as servants of the defendant, and sued in nuisance and in negligence. The defendant contended that there was no liability for cattle escaping on the road, and that the men herding the cattle were acting as volunteers. Held by McWilliam J. in dismissing the case, 1, that the presence of cattle on a highway could constitute a nuisance: Cunningham v. McGrath BrothersIR[1964] I.R. 209, Hall v. WightmanDNI [1926] N.I. 72, and Cunningham v. Whelan 52 I.L. T.R. 67 considered. 2. That the test of liability in nuisance is akin to that in negligence and is the doing or permitting of something of which the natural and probable consequence is the creation of a nuisance: dictum of...