The holiday season is upon us and so too are the joys of family gatherings: your cousin’s experimental mackerel-and-mushroom side dish, visits from your uncle who’s allergic to soap, vicious sibling reviews of your celebrity impressions.
And after a particularly violent Monopoly game, you may wonder: Are there legal measures you could take?
In this lighthearted Q&A, Professor Adam Hofri-Winogradow of the Peter A. Allard School of Law outlines why taking legal action against your relatives is probably not worth it this holiday season.
Can you kick out your horrible relatives after inviting them to stay? Is written notice required?
By inviting your relatives, you’re giving them a license to stay and from a legal point of view, yes, you can kick them out because a license is terminable at will—you’re not leasing your home or any part thereof to your relatives. This permission is withdrawable at any point, including verbally, since you gave permission verbally. You haven’t sent your relatives a written license. I mean, you might have, but you would be a weird person if you did that.
Can you take back a gift?
For a gift to be made, we need three elements: an intention to give, an intention or consent to receive, and delivery. If all three are present, you can’t take a gift back.
In court, you often see disputes over money and trusts: a large sum of money moves from my account to yours, I say I’ve created a trust, appointed you trustee, now I’d like the money back. But your argument would be that the money was a gift.
The law assumes that a transfer settles a trust. This means the onus is on the recipient of the money to prove it was a gift by demonstrating those same three elements. The one exception is transfers by parents to their minor children, which are presumed to be gifts.
Can you sue your cousin for food poisoning if the turkey wasn’t properly cooked?
In point of law, which does not entirely track normal human relationships or social norms, if someone has given you spoiled food to eat and you suffer harm as a result, then yes, what they’ve done can be conceived of as a tort, and you can sue them and demand compensation or an apology.
Does freedom of speech extend to your drunk uncle’s political evangelizing?
Yes, it does. You could, of course, argue that a family gathering is not the appropriate circumstance for pushing freedom of speech to its furthest limits. Perhaps the way to deal with this would be to reprimand your uncle or not invite him next year. But it would not be to sue him, because you would not have a case. That being said, hate speech is a criminal offense.
Is caroling trespassing?
Technically, if people are entering your land without your consent, then yes, they are trespassing. One could perhaps argue that there is implied consent in society for folks to enter your property in the context of Christmas caroling.
If you were a real Ebenezer Scrooge, you could have a huge sign saying “Visitors unwelcome, no caroling permitted, go away or else”. This would make proving your trespass case easier, because your objection was crystal clear.
Can you sue your neighbour if their light display is too bright or too garish?
There is a tort of nuisance, where, if someone unreasonably interferes with your use of your home, you can sue them and ask for either compensation or an injunction. This could, in theory, apply to, say, brightly lit decorations shining through your bedroom window all night, preventing you from sleeping. But given that holiday decorations are socially sanctioned, the courts would naturally insist on a pretty high threshold before they start treating them as a nuisance.
Your first port of call would be to talk to your neighbor. If you haven’t inquired with the person concerned as to the potential for a peaceful resolution, it could have a negative impact on your chances in court.
Is it worth suing your relatives this year?
The law does not make the entirety of norms applicable to human life. You might be within your rights to sue your relatives, but there are other considerations that should bear on your exercising these rights, including the social norms applicable to normal human interactions.
Society in B.C. is so much more pleasant than in many other places because many civil issues are resolved here by way of social norms, rather than filing suit. The law is essentially a default, backup option for enforcing reasonable behaviour. And that’s the way it should be.
Interview language(s): English, Hebrew
Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this article does not create a lawyer-client relationship. For advice about your specific situation, please consult a qualified legal professional.
Contact:
Alex Walls
UBC Media Relations
Tel: 604-319-8128
Email: alex.walls@ubc.ca
