John Rylands Library I listed status in 1994, is maintained by the University of Manchester and open for library readers and visitors. Enriqueta Rylands purchased a site on Deansgate for her memorial library in 1889 and commissioned a design from architect Basil Champneys. Rylands commissioned the Manchester academic Alice Cooke to index the vast library of the 2nd Earl Spencer which she had purchased and another collection of autographs. Mrs Rylands intended the library to be principally theological, and the building, which is a fine example of Victorian Gothic, has the appearance of a church, although the concept was of an Oxford college
Rylands v Fletcher principle, in "Losee v. Buchanan", "Brown v. Collins", and "Marshall v. Welwood" respectively. The Supreme Court of New Jersey, however, reversed "Welwood" in 1983 in "Department of Environmental Protection v. Ventron Corp". Many courts in the United States have attempted to use "Rylands" to justify absolute liability, which it was never intended to do; while absolute liability is where no defence is applicable, in "Rylands" itself Lord Cairns accepted that there were some situations where the case should not be applied. In Australia, the principles of "Rylands v Fletcher" were "killed off" by the High Court of Australia in "Burnie