Loading AI tools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
R v Stephens (1866) is an English criminal law, public nuisance in land law and vicarious liability case decided by the Queen's Bench that applied a strict liability standard (that is no requirement of mens rea) to the violation of the criminal statute prohibiting dumping of refuse into a river.
R v Stephens | |
---|---|
Court | Queen's Bench Division |
Full case name | The Queen or The Crown against (most formally Regina versus) Stephens |
Decided | 14 June 1866[1] |
Citation | LR 1 QB 702, QBD |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Mr Justice Mellor; Mr Justice Blackburn |
Keywords | |
|
The defendant owned a quarry where refuse was dumped (by servants, employees, agents, land licensees or subcontractors) into a nearby river. The owner claimed he had no knowledge of the dumping and so should not be liable.
The court held the quarry owner as "master" would be liable for acts of his servant, regardless of knowledge. He was convicted and faced the usual financial penalty. The offence was upheld as being one where no knowledge of the dumping was required.[2]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.