Court case[1947] AC 156

During the Second World War the defendants operated an ordnance factory, as agents of the Ministry of Supply, in which they manufactured high-explosive shells. The plaintiff, an employee of the Ministry, was working in the factory as an inspector of munitions. While she was inside the shell-filling shop in the course of her duties, a shell exploded, killing a man and injuring her. She did not allege, and could not prove, any negligence on the part of the defendants. She claimed that the defendants were strictly liable under the rule in Rylands v. Fletcher because they were carrying on an ultra-hazardous activity.

The House of Lords (Viscount Simon, Lord Macmillan, Lord Porter, Lord Simonds and Lord Uthwatt) held the defendants not liable. The rule in Rylands v. Fletcher requires an escape of the dangerous thing from a place where the defendant has occupation or control to a place outside his occupation or control. Here the explosion occurred inside the factory and the plaintiff was injured inside it; there was no escape, and the rule did not apply. Their Lordships declined to recognise a general principle of strict liability for ultra-hazardous activities, so that the plaintiff could succeed only by proving negligence, which she had not done. Some of the Lords also doubted whether the rule extends to personal injuries at all.