Court case[1893] 1 Ch 316

The plaintiffs, Mr and Mrs Christie, lived in one half of a semi-detached house. Mrs Christie was a music teacher who gave lessons at home, and members of the family practised music there for several hours a day. The defendant, who lived in the other half, objected to the music. In retaliation he knocked on the party wall, beat trays, whistled, shrieked and made other noises during the lessons, deliberately to annoy the plaintiffs and disturb their teaching. The plaintiffs sued for an injunction to restrain the defendant from making the noises.

North J. granted an injunction restraining the defendant. The music made by the plaintiffs was a reasonable use of their house and not a nuisance to the defendant. The defendant's noises, by contrast, were made deliberately and maliciously, for the purpose of annoying the plaintiffs, and were therefore not a legitimate use of his own house. Had the noises been innocent, the question would have been one of degree; but where they are made for the sole purpose of annoyance, they are an actionable nuisance.