The efficacy of liability under the rule in Rylands v Fletcher in construction industry in Malaysia

Abstract

Rylands v Fletcher is under the law of torts which regulates at common law of activities affecting individual rights in or over real property and protects public rights. Rylands v Fletcher is a classic case in United Kingdom. which handling cases of environmental liability and practicing strict liability. It is quite popular because it functions as a mechanism of environmental protection. In Malaysia the application of the rule of Rylands v Fletcher was developed more than three decades ago and the rule has been applied in a number of cases. Recently the function of the rule since its inceptions been progressively deteriorate and restricted in its application from within and the area in which it applied to oblige liability gradually diminished. The enormous issue can be lift up under this research is, should a Malaysian court continue to apply the rule in Rylands v Fletcher without amendment to the requirements of the liability, because the capability of the liability of the rule originally is not adequate to familiarize with the growing figure of damages and to speed up the court case. The objectives of this research are to determine the environmental cases in Malaysia and the associated issues and to determine the applicability of Rylands v Fletcher in environmental cases in Malaysian Construction Industry. The scope of the research is focus on Malaysian cases only where have been tested from the court held from the year of 1960 until 2006. The findings of this research suggested that with the rising figure of environmental cases in Construction Industry therefore, need to speed up the court cases to lessen the burden of the plaintiff in order for them to secure some kind of monetary compensation for damages to people’s belongings and with this approach the polluters will definitely be answerable for all damages. To speed up the court case another finding suggested that need some modification to the rule to make it more effective. Applicability of the rule of Rylands v Fletcher in Malaysia with the new version of additional ingredient that is ‘foreseeability’. With this new addition as an essential component of liability to the rule of Rylands v Fletcher, the judges, lawyers, legal skills and proficiency would perform the theory of strict liability in the expanding figure of environmental cases in order to guarantee that those cases are appropriately developed in court without any offensive interruption.