Landmark Chambers - Fearn and others v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery

This video was published on 1 December 2021 when judgment was being awaited in the case of Fearn and others v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery. Landmark barristers Tom Weekes KC and Richard Moules have since represented their client in the Supreme Court in December 2022. In this video Tom provides a summary of the key issues involved. On Wednesday 2 February 2023 the Supreme Court (by a majority) held that the Tate, by operating a viewing gallery at Tate Modern so as to enable visitors to engage in viewing into neighbouring flats, is liable in nuisance.  The viewing gallery meant that living in the flats was “much like being on display in a zoo”.  The principles of nuisance developed in the 19th century remain good law. Watching/observing can be a nuisance. The fact that the claimant occupies a sensitive building is no defence. The case has been remitted to the High Court to determine the appropriate remedy. Departing from the decisions at first instance and in the Court of Appeal (which dismissed the flat owner’s claims for different reasons), the Supreme Court’s majority judgment is a robust reassertion of the protection afforded by the common law to privacy in the home. There was no need to extend the common law to accommodate the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 8 of the ECHR.