*This is a hybrid event that will be held in person at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (Falconer Hall, 84 Queen’s Park, Michael J. Trebilcock Solarium (FA2)) and virtually over Zoom (Zoom link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/86366567903)
The Tort Law and Social Equality Project Speaker Series features monthly presentations from scholars around the world who work on topics situated at the intersection of torts and social justice. Its aim is to foster debate and dialogue within the academic community focused on these topics and cultivate social justice tort theory as a distinctive field of inquiry.
Presentations will be hosted virtually by the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and be open to the public. They will last about 45 minutes and will be followed by a 45-minute Q&A period. Sessions will be recorded and made available for subsequent online viewing. Attendees are not expected to pre-read prescribed materials.
Click here for more information about the Speaker Series: https://www.tortlawandsocialequality.ca/speaker-series
On Friday, February 14, 2025, from 12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m. EST, the Tort Law and Social Equality Project is pleased to host a presentation by Haim Abraham, who is an Assistant Professor at the University College London Faculty of Laws. Abraham will be giving a presentation entitled, "Private Nuisance, Looking Out, Gazing In"
Can looking into a neighboring property through its windows, or conducting one’s affairs in their property in a manner that is visible to neighbors, constitute private nuisance? In several cases, courts have answered this question affirmatively (e.g.: Fearn v Tate; Laws v Florinplace Ltd; Thompson-Schwab v Costaki; Pittman v. Simon). In this Article, I critique these rulings through two prisms – a rights-based analysis and a queer theory lens – to articulate circumstances under which visual interferences ought to be considered as grounds for a private nuisance claim. I show that merely looking out from property could not constitute a wrong, as it is a basic feature of being a free and equal individual. Furthermore, as looking out could not constitute a wrong, incidentally looking into someone else’s property also could not constitute a wrong, as otherwise a society of free and equal individuals would not be possible. No one has a right to demand that others remain hidden from sight. Likewise, no one has a right to demand that others look away when in plain view. Any other conclusion would subject some to the arbitrary whims of others, based on a division of power that is similarly arbitrary. I then demonstrate that in analyzing what visual interferences should be deemed as ‘reasonable’ in heterogenous localities with multiple types of uses of land, courts implicitly rely on a hierarchy of types of land uses. Through an exploratory analysis of six cases of visual interference, I identify that courts engage in this kind of hierarchal structuring, viewing privately owned homes as the ‘normal’ category of land uses against which all others are evaluated. Other activities are more likely to be deemed as ‘abnormal’ and will not be protected by, or from, private nuisance, resulting in a disproportionate negative impact on marginalized groups and on activities aimed for the public’s benefit.
Haim Abraham is an Assistant Professor at UCL Faculty of Laws, who specializes in the moral and legal liability of states. Dr Abraham holds a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the University of Toronto, a Master of Law degree from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Law degree from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His work has been published in world-leading university presses, academic journals, and professional and popular blogs; and has been cited by the Supreme Court of Israel. Before joining academia, Dr. Abraham was a Law Clerk at Israel's State Attorney Office, focusing on Israel's liability for losses inflicted by its defense forces.
