New law in France: Newcomers cannot file a lawsuit against mooing cows

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The parliament in Paris passed a law late Monday evening that protects farmers and other companies from conducting their own activities, as long as they are legal.

Those who move to the countryside cannot sue their neighbors because mooing cows, rattling tractors or nightly work in the ground-floor bakery disrupt their idea of ​​the rural idyll.

Hundreds of neighborhood disputes over animal sounds and smells are keeping the courts busy in France, and the new law is also intended to ease the burden on the judiciary. The case of a dairy farmer who, after suing his neighbors, is ordered to pay more than 100,000 euros in damages and may even have to rebuild his stables, made headlines.

However, in 2019, a court ruled in favor of Maurice de haan, who was allowed to continue crowing unhindered after the judge’s ruling. Holiday home owners had filed a lawsuit because they felt disturbed by the crows. All activities that farmers were already legally carrying out when new neighbors moved in are now protected.

To curb neighborhood disputes over sounds and smells in the countryside, France had already passed a law in 2021 aimed at defining and protecting the so-called sensory heritage of France’s landscapes. The Environmental Code has since established that the sounds and smells that characterize natural areas are part of the country’s shared heritage.

(SDA)

Source: Blick