SNR Denton Senior Moot Competition
Second Round Problem
Case Reference 2010/Round 2
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (Civil Division)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BETWEEN:
Mr JACK FREUD (1)
Miss JILL FREUD (2)
Appellants
– and –
Mr TIM CRUZ
Respondent
BRIEF TO COUNSEL
Jack and Jill Freud, who are brother and sister and both students in their early 20s, live in their parents’
house in London. Their parents own the property jointly and at all material times have lived in another
one of their houses in the countryside. Their parents only come to the London house at Christmas time
when they need somewhere to stay while attending their friends’ lavish parties in the City. Jack and Jill
are studying psychiatry and are in their final year of university. This means that they are in need of good
night sleeps and peace and quiet in order to be able to study: this is particularly so during exam time.
Tim Cruz, a Hollywood film star, recently bought and moved into the house next door to the Freuds. Tim
is a member of the Hubbardologists, a cult organisation which is known to seek out and persecute
psychiatrists. The Hubbardologists claim to be a religious organisation. Tim meets with as many as 10
other members of the organisation every day. They celebrate each new day with a 30 minute service,
commencing at sunrise, in which all participants dance around Tim’s front garden naked whilst chanting
anti-psychiatrist propaganda. Each of these services concludes with fireworks which are designed to
symbolise fertility.
Hubbardology does not require Mr Cruz or his companions to dance naked, chant or let off fireworks
because it prescribes no single method of celebrating, but merely requires ‘extensive and obvious
James Chandler
Senior Moots Officer
james.chandler@ucl.ac.uk
07766712060
worship of the moments at which sun and moon are in harmony’. However, dancing naked, chanting
and letting off fireworks is the way in which Mr Cruz and his companions feel are the best way in which
to achieve this extensive and obvious worship of the moments at which sun and moon are in harmony.
Jack and Jill find that this ceremony interrupts their sleep, particularly in the summer, a time when they
have important exams. On occasion the fireworks have lost their trajectory and landed on the Freuds’
lawn, damaging plants and scorching the grass. Luckily, when the fireworks are set off, the Freuds are
inside the house and not outside in the garden. After complaining to Mr Cruz the chants only got louder.
Mr Cruz is aware that they are students studying for their final exams in psychiatry. Jack and Jill
subsequently commenced proceedings in the High Court of Justice alleging that the organisation’s
activities constitute a private nuisance. They sought an injunction to restrain Mr Cruz from engaging in
chanting or letting off fireworks.
Beckham J refused the injunction on the following grounds:
1
Since Jack and Jill Freud have no proprietary interest in the property, being only licensees, they
had no legal right to bring a claim for private nuisance.
2
Even if a proprietary interest is not necessary to sue in private nuisance, the chanting and the
fireworks did not constitute an actionable private nuisance in this context.
Jack and Jill Freud appeal to the Court of Appeal on the following grounds:
1
Due to article 8 of the ECHR, there is no need to have a proprietary interest in the property in
order to sue in private nuisance and therefore they have a legal right to bring a claim for
private nuisance.
(to be addressed by the leading member of counsel)
2
The chanting and the letting off of fireworks constituted a private nuisance in this context.
(to be addressed by the junior member of counsel)