Question

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : When a defendant brings onto their land anything that is likely to do mischief in case it escapes, they must do so at their own peril. If such a thing does escape and causes foreseeable harm, then the defendant is liable for damage caused provided that the land from which escape occurs had been changed such that it would be considered a non-natural use of the land.
The defendant can avoid liability if they can show that the situation that caused damage was a result of an unforeseeable act of a stranger, which could not be controlled by the defendant.
Facts : M decided to keep a tiger as a pet and to that end, he brought a caged tiger to his house. Jealous of M’s pet, M’s neighbour S (whom M had never met) decided to break into M’s heavily guarded house while M was away and open the tiger’s cage. The tiger escaped and mauled pedestrians near the house. The pedestrians wish to sue M for damages.

• A. The pedestrians will be successful because it is illegal to keep a tiger as a pet
• B. The pedestrians can claim against M because he brought a dangerous thing onto his land (amounting to non-natural use) and it escaped, causing foreseeable damage. The escape should have been foreseen by M
• C. M can escape liability because the escape was caused by the unforeseeable act of a stranger, which could not have been controlled by M
• D. None of the above

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

M can escape liability because the escape was caused by the unforeseeable act of a stranger, which could not have been controlled by M

Answer 2

The correct option is (C) : M can escape liability because the escape was caused by the unforeseeable act of a stranger, which could not have been controlled by M.