Parliamentary
Archives,
HL/PO/JU/18/244
Governors
of the Peabody Donation Fund
(Appellants)
v.
Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Company Limited and others
(Respondents)
JUDGMENT
Die Jovis 18° Octobris 1984
Upon Report from the Appellate Committee to
whom was
referred the Cause Governors of the Peabody Donation
Fund
against Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Company Limited and
others,
That the Committee had heard Counsel on Thursday the
5th,
Monday the 9th, Tuesday the 10th and Wednesday the 11th
days
of July last upon the Petition and Appeal of the Governors
of
the Peabody Donation Fund of 207 Waterloo Road, London
SE1 8XW
praying that the matter of the Order set forth in
the Schedule
thereto, namely an Order of Her Majesty's Court
of Appeal of the
29th day of July 1983, might be reviewed
before Her Majesty the
Queen in Her Court of Parliament and
that the said Order might be
reversed, varied or altered or
that the Petitioners might have
such other relief in the
premises as to tier Majesty the Queen in
Her Court of
Parliament might seem meet; as also upon the Case of
Sir
Lindsay Parkinson & Company Limited and others lodged
in
answer to the said Appeal; and due consideration had this
day
of what was offered on either side in this Cause:
It is Ordered and Adjudged, by
the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal in the Court of Parliament of Her
Majesty the Queen
assembled, That the said Order of tier Majesty's
Court of
Appeal of the 29th day of July 1983 complained of in
the
said Appeal be, and the same is hereby, Affirmed and
that
the said Petition and Appeal be, and the same is
hereby,
dismissed this House: And it is further Ordered,
That the
Appellants do pay or cause to be paid to the
said
Respondents the Costs incurred by them in respect of the
said
Appeal, the amount thereof to be certified by the Clerk
of the
Parliaments if not agreed between the parties.
Cler: Parliamentor:
HOUSE OF LORDS
GOVERNORS OF THE PEABODY DONATION FUND
(APPELLANTS)
v.
SIR LINDSAY PARKINSON & COMPANY LIMITED AND OTHERS
(RESPONDENTS)
Lord Keith of
Kinkel
Lord Scarman
Lord Bridge of Harwich
Lord Brandon of
Oakbrook
Lord Templeman
LORD KEITH OF KINKEL
My Lords,
In 1972 the appellants, the
Governors of the Peabody
Donation Fund ("Peabody")
decided to undertake the development
for housing of a site known
as Knights Hill, in the London Borough
of Lambeth. They engaged as
contractors for the project Sir
Lindsay Parkinson & Co. Ltd.
("the contractors") and as architects
Austin Vernon &
Partners ("the architects"). Consulting engineers
were
also instructed.
The site of the development, which
was for 245 houses,
presented certain problems. It required to be
terraced and the
nature of the subsoil was London clay, which
tends to expand and
contract with the seasons and to give rise to
movement. For this
reason it was appreciated by the architects,
and the consulting
engineers advising them, that the traditional
rigid type of drainage
system was likely to be unsuitable for the
project, since there
would be a high probability of failure, and
the architects therefore
designed a system which incorporated
flexible joints between pipes
at various critical points and
submitted plans for approval to the
respondents, the London
Borough of Lambeth ("Lambeth").
The application for approval was
made in pursuance of
paragraphs 13(1) and 15(1) and (2) of Part
III of Schedule 9 to the
London Government Act 1963, which
provide:
"13(1) It shall not be lawful
in an inner London borough (a)
to erect any house or other
building, or (b) to rebuild any
house or other building
which has been pulled down to a
level below, the floor commonly
called the ground floor,
unless there are provided to the
satisfaction of the borough
council drains conforming with the
requirements of this
paragraph and all such drains and ail works
and apparatus in
connection therewith are constructed to the
satisfaction of
the council and, in particular, are constructed of
such
materials and size, at such level and with such fall, as
are
approved by the council and are provided with a water
supply
. . ."
- 1 -
"15(1) No person shall - (a)
begin to lay or dig out the
foundations of any house or building
in an inner London
borough, or to rebuild any house or building
therein; or (b)
begin to make any drain for the purpose of
draining directly
or indirectly into a sewer under the control of
the council
of such a borough, unless, at least seven days
previously, he
has given to the borough council notice of his
intention so
to do, and if any person begins to lay or dig out
the
foundations of any such house or building, or to make
any
drain for the purpose aforesaid, in contravention of
this
paragraph, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £5
and
to a further fine not exceeding £2 for every day
thereafter
until the notice is given. (2) If any house or
building, or
any drain for draining directly or indirectly into a
sewer
under the control of the council of a London borough, or
any
connections to such a drain, or any works, apparatus or
water
supply in connection with such a drain, is or are
begun, erected,
made or provided in an inner London
borough in contravention of
the provisions of this Part of
this Schedule or of the
corresponding provisions of any
enactment repealed by this Act,
the council of the borough
at their option may either - (a)
serve upon the owner of
the house or building or of the drain (as
the case may be) a
notice requiring him to cause the house or
building to be
demolished or altered or to cause the drain or
the
connections or other works and apparatus in
connection
therewith or the water supply to be relaid, remade,
altered
or added to, as the case may require; or (b)
recover from
the person in default, as a debt due from him to
the
council, a penalty not exceeding £5, and a further
penalty
not exceeding £2 for every day on which the
contravention
continues."
The application was made on 6
April 1972, and an informal
indication seems to have been given by
Lambeth that it was likely
to be approved. Early in 1973 the
contractors were ready to
begin the construction of the drainage
system. The architects'
representative on the site was a trainee
architect named Mitchell.
Lambeth had instructed a drainage
inspector named Marlow to
carry out inspections of the drainage
installation. On 2 February
1973 Mitchell and Marlow met and
agreed between themselves that
in certain parts of the system the
planned flexible joints should be
abandoned and fixed joints
substituted. On 7 February 1973,
Mitchell wrote a letter to the
contractors' site agent, who had
also been present at the meeting,
confirming the agreement to this
variation. It does not appear
that either Mitchell or Marlow ever
informed their respective
principals about what they had done. In
the result, the trial
judge found, and the finding is not disputed by
the appellants,
that Marlow had neither actual nor ostensible
authority to agree
the variation so that Lambeth itself bears no
responsibility for
his action.
Very soon afterwards, on 14
February 1973, Lambeth,
through their senior assistant director
(civil engineering), wrote to
the architects intimating approval
in principle of the plans
originally submitted by the latter, i.e.
those showing flexible joints
throughout. However, the contractors
commenced the construction
of drains incorporating rigid joints on
the lines agreed between
Mitchell and Marlow.
- 2 -
The next development was that
Marlow was superseded by
another drainage inspector, named
Toogood, who had little
experience in this field having previously
been employed as a
plumber. He asked the contractors' site agent
for information
about the nature of the drains which were being
constructed. The
site agent wrote a letter, addressed to the
Lambeth Public Health
Department and headed "For the
attention of Mr. Toogood,"
indicating inter alia that runs
and connections into and abutting
the dwelling houses were laid
with rigid joints. Toogood took no
action on this letter and in
particular did not bring it to the
attention of any of his
superiors in the department. Had he done
so there can be no doubt
that steps would have been taken to
ensure that flexible joints
were installed throughout the system.
The upshot was that construction
with fixed joints proceeded
and in due course tests carried out in
late 1975 and early 1976
revealed that many of the drains had
failed. Reconstruction was
necessary, at a cost of some £118,000,
completion of the
development was delayed for about three years,
with consequent
loss of rents for Peabody, and Peabody were faced
with substantial
claims by the contractors for additional payments
said to be due
to them because of the delay.
In these circumstances, Peabody
started proceedings against
the contractors, the architects and
Lambeth. Their case against
the contractors was based on the
allegation that the failure of the
drains was caused by faulty
workmanship. Against the architects
it was alleged that they
failed to check the contractors' faulty
workmanship and further
that they instructed the contractors to
install drains lacking the
requisite flexible joints. In the event the
claim against the
architects was compromised. As regards
Lambeth the material
averment of negligence against them was in
these terms:
"Knowing that rigid drains
were being installed between the
vertical stacks in the buildings
and the manholes following
receipt of the said letter of 4 May
1973, thereafter failing
to require flexibly jointed drains
wherever rigid drains had
been or were to be installed."
The case came for trial on issues
of liability before Judge Oddie
sitting as a deputy official
referee. On 24 January 1983 he gave
judgment holding that,
although there had been some faulty
workmanship on the part of the
contractors, this was not the
cause of the failure of the drains,
and that the cause of the
failure was the design change instructed
by Mitchell from flexible
joints to rigid joints. He did not have
to deal with the claim
against the architects since that, as
mentioned above, had been
compromised. He went on to find that
Lambeth were liable in
damages to Peabody on the ground of failure
to take steps to
ensure that the drainage system as installed
complied with the
design originally approved by them.
Lambeth appealed to the Court of
Appeal against the latter
part of the judgment, and on 29 July
1983 that court (Lawton, Fox
and Slade L.JJ.) allowed the appeal
and reversed the decision of
the trial judge. Peabody now appeal
to your Lordships' House.
- 3 -
Peabody's case, in substance, is
that Lambeth were under a
duty of care, owed to Peabody, when they
became aware through
the letter of 4 May 1973 that the contractors
were installing
drains with rigid joints, to invoke their powers
under paragraph 15
of Part III of Schedule 9 to the Act of 1963 so
as to require a
reversion to the flexible joint design which they
had previously
approved. The duty is not said to be a statutory
one, but one
that arose on common law principles because Lambeth
ought to
have foreseen that, if they did not take steps to stop
the
installation of drains with rigid joints, severe economic loss
would
ensue to Peabody through the necessity at some future date
of
taking up these drains and replacing them with others of
the
approved design, as in fact happened.
It may be accepted that knowledge
of the contents of the
letter of 4 May 1973 is to be imputed to
Lambeth. It was
addressed to Lambeth's Public Health Department,
albeit for the
attention of Mr. Toogood, and the latter was
clearly under a duty
to bring it to the notice of higher
authority. It may also be
accepted that Lambeth had power under
paragraph 15 of Part III
of Schedule 9 to stop the unauthorised
installation. No doubt it
would have been sufficient, in fact, to
draw to Peabody's attention
that the rigid joints were
unauthorised. So the issue really comes
to be whether Lambeth owed
a duty to Peabody to warn them
that they were heading for
financial disaster.
Lord Atkin's famous enunciation of
the general principles
upon which the law of negligence is
founded, in Donoghue v.
Stevenson [1932] AC 562, 580, has
long been recognised as not
intended to afford a comprehensive
definition, to the effect that
every situation which is capable of
falling within the terms of the
utterance and which results in
loss automatically affords a remedy
in damages. Lord Reid said in
Dorset Yacht Co. v. Home Office
[1970] AC 1004, 1027:
"It is not to be treated as
if it were a statutory definition.
It will require qualification
in new circumstances. But I
think that the time has come when we
can and should say
that it ought to apply unless there is some
justification or
valid explanation for its exclusion. For example,
causing
economic loss is a different matter; for one thing, it
is
often caused by deliberate action. Competition involves
traders
being entitled to damage their rivals' interests by
promoting
their own, and there is a long chapter of the law
determining in
what circumstances owners of land can and
in what circumstances
they may not use their proprietary
rights so as to injure their
neighbours. But where
negligence is involved the tendency has been
to apply
principles analogous to those stated by Lord Atkin:
cf.
Hedley Byrne & Co. Ltd, v. Heller & Partners Ltd.
[1964]
A.C. 465. And when a person has done nothing to put
himself
in any relationship with another person in distress or
with his
property mere accidental propinquity does not
require him to go to
that person's assistance. There may
be a moral duty to do so, but
it is not practicable to make
it a legal duty."
Lord Wilberforce spoke on
similar lines in Anns v. Merton London
Borough
Council [1978] AC 728, 751-752:
- 4 -
"Through the trilogy of cases
in this House - Donoghue v.
Stevenson [1932] AC 562,
Hedley Byrne & Co. Ltd. v.
Heller & Partners Ltd.
[1964] AC 465, and Dorset Yacht
Co. Ltd, v. Home Office
[1970] AC 1004, the position has
now been reached that in order
to establish that a duty of
care arises in a particular situation,
it is not necessary to
bring the facts of that situation within
those of previous
situations in which a duty of care has been held
to exist.
Rather the question has to be approached in two
stages.
First one has to ask whether, as between the
alleged
wrongdoer and the person who has suffered damage there
is
a sufficient relationship of proximity or neighbourhood
such
that, in the reasonable contemplation of the
former,
carelessness on his part may be likely to cause damage
to
the latter - in which case a prima facie duty of care
arises.
Secondly, if the first question is answered affirmatively,
it
is necessary to consider whether there are any
considerations
which ought to negative, or to reduce or limit
the scope of the
duty or the class of person to whom it is
owed or the damages to
which a breach of it may give rise:
see Dorset Yacht case
[1970] AC 1004, per Lord Reid at
p. 1027."
There has been a tendency in some
recent cases to treat
these passages as being themselves of a
definitive character. This
is a temptation which should be
resisted. The true question in
each case is whether the particular
defendant owed to the
particular plaintiff a duty of care having
the scope which is
contended for, and whether he was in breach of
that duty with
consequent loss to the plaintiff. A relationship of
proximity in
Lord Atkin's sense must exist before any duty of care
can arise,
but the scope of the duty must depend on all the
circumstances of
the case. In Dorset Yacht Co. v. Home Office
[1970] AC 1004,
1038, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, after
observing that at the
conclusion of his speech in Donoghue v.
Stevenson [1932] AC 562,
Lord Atkin said that it was
advantageous if the law "is in
accordance with sound common
sense" and expressing the view that
a special relation
existed between the prison officers and the
yacht company which
gave rise to a duty on the former to control
their charges so as
to prevent them doing damage, continued, at
p.1039:
"Apart from this I would
conclude that, in the situation
stipulated in the present case, it
would not only be fair and
reasonable that a duty of care should
exist but that it
would be contrary to the fitness of things were
it not so. I
doubt whether it is necessary to say, in cases where
the
court is asked whether in a particular situation a
duty
existed, that the court is called upon to make a decision
as
to policy. Policy need not be invoked where reason and
good
sense will at once point the way. If the test as to
whether in
some particular situation a duty of care arises
may in some cases
have to be whether it is fair and
reasonable that it should so
arise, the court must not shrink
from being the arbiter. As Lord
Radcliffe said in his
speech in Davis Contractors Ltd, v.
Fareham Urban District
Council [1956] AC 696, 728, the court
is 'the spokesman of
the fair and reasonable man.'"
- 5 -
So in determining whether or not a
duty of care of particular
scope was incumbent upon a defendant it
is material to take into
consideration whether it is just and
reasonable that it should be
so.
In the instant case Peabody, the
owners of the building site
and the undertakers of the development
thereon, bore
responsibility, under paragraph 13 of Part III of
Schedule 9 to the
Act of 1963, for securing that the drains
conformed to the design
approved by Lambeth. Mr. Dyson, for
Peabody, brought to the
attention of the House certain drainage
byelaws made by the
Greater London Council in 1962 under the
statutory predecessor of
the Act of 1963. These undoubtedly place
certain very specific
obligations upon contractors carrying out
building operations, but
they do nothing to detract from what is
clearly the proper
construction of paragraph 13(1), namely, that
observance of its
provisions is incumbent upon any person who puts
in train a house
building project. Peabody no doubt had no
personal knowledge or
understanding of what was going on. They
relied on the advice of
their architects, engineers and
contractors, and in the event they
were sadly let down,
particularly by the architects. But it would
be neither reasonable
nor just, in these circumstances, to impose
upon Lambeth a
liability to indemnify Peabody against loss
resulting from such
disastrous reliance.
The purpose for which the powers
contained in paragraph 15
of Part III of Schedule 9 have been
conferred on Lambeth is not
to safeguard building developers
against economic loss resulting
from their failure to comply with
approved plans. It is in my
opinion to safeguard the occupiers of
houses built in the local
authority's area, and also members of
the public generally, against
dangers to their health which may
arise from defective drainage
installations. The provisions are
public health measures. In Anns
v. Merton London Borough
Council [1978] AC 728, a case
concerned with defective
foundations, Lord Wilberforce said at p.
758, under the heading
"To whom the duty is owed";
"There is, In my opinion, no
difficulty about this. A
reasonable man in the position of the
inspector must realise
that if the foundations are covered in
without adequate
depth or strength as required by the byelaws,
injury to
safety or health may be suffered by owners or occupiers
of
the house. The duty is owed to them - not to a
negligent
building owner, the source of his own loss."
The plaintiffs in that case were
lessees under long leases which
they had acquired from a building
developer, either directly or at
a certain remove. The damages
which they were held entitled to
recover consisted in such sums as
each of them required to expend
in order to put his house in such
a state that it was no longer a
danger to safety or health. (See
per Lord Wilberforce at p. 759).
It is important to notice
that these sums were not recoverable as
economic loss pure and
simple, but as representing expenditure
necessary to avert injury
to safety or health. The passage I have
quoted from the speech of
Lord Wilberforce raises certain
difficulties. In particular, it is
difficult to see how, having regard
to the scope of the duty held
to exist, a non-resident owner could
fail within the ambit of it,
since he would not be subject to any
possible injury to safety or
health. Yet Lord Wilberforce would
- 6 -
appear to be saying that the duty
is owed separately to owners
and to occupiers. In fact, the
plaintiffs, as long lessees, were in
substance both owners and
occupiers, and in my opinion the
decision should be treated as
restricted to that situation. Further,
the reference to "a
negligent building owner, the source of his own
loss" to some
extent begs the question whether a duty is owed to
the owner since
negligence on the part of a claimant does not
necessarily, since
the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act
1945, preclude
recovery of damages against a negligent defendant,
though it may
reduce them. The question whether a building
owner's negligence is
the sole cause of his loss raises a question
of causation, not
liability. It is also to be observed that the basis
upon which the
measure of damages was arrived at would present
difficulties in
the case of a claim by one occupying upon terms
which did not
permit of his carrying out any alterations to the
structure of the
house. The solution of these difficulties is not,
however,
necessary to the determination of the instant appeal. It
is
sufficient to hold that Lambeth owed no duty to Peabody to
activate
their paragraph 15 powers, notwithstanding that they
might
reasonably have foreseen that failure to do so would result
in
economic loss to Peabody, because the purpose of avoiding such
loss
was not one of the purposes for which these powers were
vested in
them. I find myself in respectful agreement with the
following
passage in the judgment of Slade L.J. in the court below
[1983] 3
W.L.R. 754, 767-768):
"Can it have been the
intention of the legislature, in
conferring on a borough council
power to enforce against a
defaulting site owner requirements made
by it in accordance
with paragraph 13 of Part III of Schedule 9,
to protect such
owner against damage which he himself might suffer
through
his own failure to comply with such requirements? In
my
opinion, this question can only be answered in the
negative.
This particular power exists for the protection of
other
persons - not for that of the person in default. I
say
nothing about the case where a local authority have failed
to
make known their requirements or where they have made
requirements
of an inadequate or defective nature.
However, I can see no
justification for extending the law of
negligence by imposing on a
local authority, over and above
their public law powers and duties
under paragraphs 13 and
15, a duty to exercise their powers of
enforcement under
paragraph 15(2), owed in private law towards a
site owner,
who, whether with or without personal negligence,
disregards
the proper requirements of the local authority, duly
made
under paragraph 13 and duly communicated to him or
persons
authorised to receive them on his behalf. The
practical
implications of giving the defaulting owner a right
to sue the
local authority for damages in such circumstances
need
consideration, but no elaboration."
Mr. Dyson relied strongly on two
recent cases decided by
different divisions of the Court of Appeal
within a week of each
other, apparently without either division
knowing of the case
before the other. In the first of these,
Acrecrest Ltd, v. W. S.
Hattrell & Partners [1983] Q.B.
260, the owners of a site employed
independent architects and
contractors to build a block of flats
and garages, which they
subsequently leased out. The architects
had prepared plans
providing for foundations 3 feet 6 inches deep,
- 7 -
but at the owner's request revised
them so as to provide for
foundations only 3 feet deep. The local
authority's building
inspector instructed that the foundations
should be 5 feet deep in
some places and 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet
deep elsewhere. The
nature of the site was such that it was
necessary for stability that
the foundations be 5 feet deep
overall. Defects developed in
respect of which the tenants claimed
against the owners. The
owners sued the architects for damages for
negligence and breach
of contract, and the architects joined the
local authority as third
parties, claiming contribution. The
action against the architects
was compromised, but their claim for
contribution proceeded to
trial. The trial judge held that the
local authority were liable for
breach of a duty of care owed to
the owners, and assessed their
contribution at 25 per cent. His
decision was affirmed by the
Court of Appeal. Stephenson L.J.,
giving the leading judgment,
construed the passages which I have
quoted from the speech of
Lord Wilberforce in the Anns case
[1978] AC 728 as intended to
lay down that a local authority, in
the exercise of its supervisory
functions over building projects,
owed a duty of care to a building
developer to see that his
property did not suffer damage, even
though there was no question
of apprehended injury to the health
or safety of the developer.
Donaldson L.J. expressed a similar
view, as did Sir David Cairns.
In my opinion they failed to
appreciate correctly the course of
Lord Wilberforce's reasoning and
consequently misapplied the
decision in Anns. In the result, the
Acrecrest case
[1983] Q.B. 260 was wrongly decided and should in
my opinion be
overruled.
The second case to which I have
referred is Dennis v.
Charnwood Borough Council [1983] Q.B.
409. The facts were that
in 1955 the plaintiffs commissioned a
builder to construct a house
for their own occupation upon a site
which consisted partly of an
infilled sand pit. Plans were
submitted to the local authority
under byelaws which corresponded
in material respects with
paragraph 13 of Part III of Schedule 9
to the Act of 1963. The
plans snowed the foundation to consist of
a concrete raft and were
duly approved by the local authority.
This was in fact an
unsuitable foundation for the site, and many
years later subsidence
led to serious cracking of the structure.
The plaintiffs sued the
statutory successors of the local
authority for damages on the
ground of negligence in passing plans
indicating an inadequate
foundation, and judgment in their favour
was given by Forbes J.
and affirmed by the Court of Appeal
(Lawton, Templeman and Fox
L.JJ.). The argument turned principally
upon whether the trial
judge's conclusions on liability were
justified on the evidence, and
also upon the question of
limitation. Templeman L.J., delivering
the leading judgment, did
not find it necessary to give any
elaborate consideration to the
question whether the local authority
owed a duty of care to the
plaintiffs, regarding the matter as
concluded in the latter 's
favour by the decision of this House in
Anns [1978] AC 728. He said,[1983] Q.B. 409, 414-415:
"The first question is
whether the council, when they
considered and passed the plan of
the house owed any duty
of care to Mr. Dennis. In Anns v.
Merton London Borough
Council [1978] AC 728 the House of
Lords decided that
under the Public Health Act 1936 local
authorities owe a
duty to give proper consideration to the
question whether
they should inspect the carrying out of any
building work.
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If they decide to inspect, they
are under a duty to use
reasonable care in carrying out their
supervisory function of
ensuring compliance with the building
byelaws but only
within the limits of discretion bona fide
exercised as to the
time and manner of inspection: per Lord
Wilberforce at p.
755. The duty is owed to the owner or occupier
at the
date when damage occurs as a result of a breach of duty
by
the local authority. The duty is not owed to a
negligent
building owner who is the source of his own loss: per
Lord
Wilberforce at p. 758. In my judgment, if local
authorities
are liable within the limits prescribed in the Anns
case for
negligence in connection with the discretionary
inspection of
building works, they must similarly be liable for
negligence
in failing to use reasonable care in considering
and
approving plans. There is no suggestion that Mr. and
Mrs.
Dennis, the building owners, were negligent or the source
of
their own loss. They were entitled to trust the builder and
the
council. They were entitled to claim damages against
the builder
if he was negligent. They were entitled to
claim damages against
the council if the council were
negligent in breach of their duty
to take reasonable care in
the consideration of the plan of the
house or in the exercise
of their supervisory and discretionary
power of inspection."
The decision is in my opinion to
be justified on the basis that the
plaintiffs, as owners who were
the intended occupiers of the house,
were within the ambit of the
duty of care laid down in Anns.
They were persons injury to
whose safety or health might
necessarily be expected to occur if
the foundations of the house
were inadequate. There can be no
doubt that, under the ratio
decidendi of Anns, a remedy
against the local authority would have
been available to any
subsequent occupier who had purchased the
house. The plaintiffs
were in breach of certain material provisions
of the relevant
byelaws dealing with the adequacy of foundations,
but the fact
remains that plans showing the intended foundations
had been
submitted with their authority and had been approved.
This
approval might reasonably be taken as an indication that
the
foundations were satisfatory, and considering that the
plaintiffs
themselves had no technical knowledge nor understanding
of the
position and that their own safety and health were in
issue, it
would be unreasonable and unjust to hold that the local
authority
owed them no duty. The decision does not, however,
assist
Peabody in the present case, because not only was there
no
question of injury to health or safety at issue so far as they
were
concerned, but they were proceeding to install drains with
fixed
joints in flat disregard of Lambeth's requirements.
My Lords, for these reasons, I would dismiss the appeal.
LORD SCARMAN
My Lords,
I have had the advantage of
reading in draft the speech to
be delivered by my noble and
learned friend Lord Keith of Kinkel.
I agree with it, and for the
reasons he gives I would dismiss the
appeal.
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LORD BRIDGE OF HARWICH
My Lords,
For the reasons given in the
speech of my noble and learned
friend Lord Keith of Kinkel, with
which I agree, I too would
dismiss the appeal.
LORD BRANDON OF OAKBROOK
My Lords,
I have had the advantage of
reading in draft the speech
prepared by my noble and learned
friend, Lord Keith of Kinkel. I
agree with it, and for the reasons
which he gives I would dismiss
the appeal.
LORD TEMPLEMAN
My Lords,
I agree with the speech of my
noble and learned friend,
Lord Keith of Kinkel, and for the
reasons he gives I too would
dismiss the appeal.
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