November 8, 2026 · 9 min

The case of the leaking reservoir

Who pays when water you stored spills onto a neighbour's land? In this case a landowner built a reservoir to serve his mill. A few years later the water found an old mine shaft and flooded the workings next door. He had been careful, and he had never meant any harm. The question for the court was whether care was the right test at all. This week I go through the facts, the three questions the judges asked and the answer they gave, which is still where every first-term student starts. Plus: your letters on last week's case, and one sentence from the judgment I think is the best in the books.