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189
more than one building is only a drain "for the purposes of Section
19" quoted above, and Section 19 only applies to cases where two or
more houses belonging to "different" owners are concerned. A pipe
draining more than one building belonging to the same owner is still a
sewer, and not affected by Section 19 of the Public Health Acts
Amendment Act.
Joseph v. Wood Green Urban District Council is the last of four
cases decided in the Court of Appeal, and it will be interesting to
consider these decisions in the order in which they were given.
(1) Thompson v. Eccles Corporation.
Thompson. Johnson.
In this case three blocks of houses (19 in all), separated by private
passage ways, were owned as to one block of six by Mr. Thompson,
and as to the other two blocks by Mr. Johnson. Each house was
separately drained into a common pipe passing under the cellars of all
the houses and under the intervening passageways, and finally
discharging into a public sewer in a side street at D. A nuisance
having occurred in the main pipe beneath one of Mr. Thompson's
houses (marked in red at C), the local authority called upon him to do
the necessary works. The Court of Appeal decided that the common
pipe at C was a "single private drain" under Section 19 of the Public
Health Acts Amendment Act, and that it was therefore the duty of
the owner, Mr. Thompson, to repair the same.