What is the liability of the owner of a parcel of land where a neighbour set fire to his property?
Alberta, Canada
The following excerpt is from Copithorne v. Transalta Utilities Corporation, 2005 ABQB 169 (CanLII):
The Plaintiffs further submit that liability for the fires may be based upon the rule in Rylands v. Fletcher (1868) L.R. 3 H.L. 330. The rule is shortly stated in the headnote to that decision: Where the owner of land, without wilfulness or negligence, uses his land in the ordinary manner of its use, though mischief should thereby be occasioned to his neighbour, he will not be liable in damages. But if he brings upon his land any thing which would not naturally come upon it, and which is in itself dangerous, and may become mischievous if not kept under proper control, though in so doing he may act without personal wilfulness or negligence he will be liable in damages for the mischief thereby occasioned.
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