Environmental law

The phrase ‘’cause or knowingly permit’’ is commonly used in UK environmental law. This phrase is subject to many interpretations, which has led to some courts in the case of Mcleod and Buchanan interpreting the phrase as two separate offences. This paper will in brief look at the inconsistency to how the ‘cause’ part of the phrase has been used in cases relating to pollution of water and the impacts it has had on the ruling of future cases.
The leading case on what the law requires as to ‘cause’ water pollution is the House of Lords judgment on Alphacell Ltd V Woodward [1972].

Alphacell Ltd V Woodward [1972]

Hughes et al, (2002(a)) explains that the appellants were convicted of allowing polluting matter to enter a river (Refer to the appendix for the details of this case). The appellants appealed against this decision, but the court dismissed their appeal. They used the criteria set out below to reach a judgment of negligence on the appellant’s behalf. Hughes ...