A discourse analysis of court documents in slum-related cases from the past 25 years leads to the conclusion that the basic statement that "slums are illegal' is a very recent juridical discourse and the rise of court orders to demolish slums is due to reinterpretation of nuisance law. The "new nuisance discourse' that arose in the early 2000s re-problematised slums as nuisances and became the primary mechanism by which slum demolitions take place at present.