英文法律词典 N-48

NUISANCE, crim. law, torts. This word means literally¹ annoyance²; in law, it signifies, according to Blackstone, " anything that worketh hurt, inconvenience, or damage." 3 Comm. 216.

2. Nuisances are either public or com- mon, or private nuisances.

3.-1. A public or common nuisance is such an inconvenience or troublesome offence, as annoys the whole community in general, and not merely some particular person. 1 Hawk³. P. C. 197; 4 Bl. Com. 166-7. To constitute a Public nuisance, there must be such 'a number of persons annoyed, that the offence can no longer be considered a private nuisance: this is a fact, generally, to be judged of by the jury. 1 .Burr. 337; 4 Esp. C. 200; 1 Str. 686, 704; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 607, n. It is diffi- cult⁴ to define what degree of annoyance is necessary to constitute a nuisance. In rela- tion to offensive trades, it seems that when such a trade renders the enjoyment⁵ of life and property uncomfortable, it is a nuisance; 1 Burr. 333; 4 Rog. Rec. 87; 5 Esp. C. 217; for the neighborhood have a right to pure and fresh air. 2 Car. & P. 485; S. C. 12 E. C. L. R. 226; 6 Rogers' Rec. 61.

4. A thing may be a nuisance in one place, which-is not so in another; therefore the situation or locality of the nuisance must be considered. A tallow chandler seeing up his baseness among other tallow chandlers, and increasing the noxious⁶ smells of the neighborhood, is not guilty of setting up a nuisance, unless the annoyance is much increased by the new manufactory. Peake's Cas. 91. Such an establishment might be a nuisance-in a thickly populated town of merchants and mechanics, where Do such business was carried on.

5. Public nuisances arise in consequence of following particular trades, by which the air-is rendered offensive and noxious. Cro. Car. 510; Hawk. B. 1, c. 755 s. 10; 2 Ld. Raym. 1163; 1 Burr. 333; 1 Str. 686. From-acts of public indecency; as bathing in a public river, in sight of the neighbor- ing houses; 1 Russ. Cr. 302; 2 Campb. R. 89; Sid. 168; or for acts tending to a breach⁷ of the public peace, as for drawing a number of persons into a field for the pur- pose of pigeon-shooting, to the disturbance⁸ of the neighborhood; 3 B. & A. 184; S. C. 23 Eng. C. L. R. 52; or keeping a dis- orderly house; 1 Russ. Cr. 298; or a gaming house; 1 Russ. Cr. 299; Hawk . b. 1, c. 7 5, s. 6; or a bawdy⁹ house; Hawk. b. 1, c. 74, s. 1; Bac. Ab. Nuisance, A; 9 Conn. R. 350; or a dangerous animal, known to be such, and suffering him to go at large, as a large bull-dog accustomed to bite people; 4 Burn's, Just. 678; or exposing a person having a contagious¹⁰ disease, as the small- pox, in public; 4 M. & S. 73, 272; and the like.

6.-2. A private nuisance is anything done to the hurt or annoyance of the lands, tenements¹¹, or hereditaments of another. 3 Bl. Com. 1215; Finch¹², L. 188.

7. These are such as are injurious to corporeal¹³ inheritance's; as, for example, if a man should build his house so as to throw the rain water which fell on it, on my land; F. N. B. 184; or erect¹⁴ his. building, with- out right, so as to obstruct¹⁵ my ancient lights; 9 Co. 58; keep hogs¹⁶ or other ani- mals so as to incommode his neighor and render the air unwholesome. 9 Co. 58.

8. Private nuisances may also be in- jurious to incorporeal¹⁷ hereditaments. If, for example, I have a way annexed¹⁸ to my estate, across another man's land, and he obstruct me in the use of it, by plowing¹⁹ it up, or laying logs across it, and the like. F. N. B. 183; 2 Roll. Ab. 140.

9. The remedies for a public nuisance are by indicting²⁰ the party. Vide, generally, Com. Dig. Action on the case for a nuisance; Bac. Ab. h. t.; Vin. Ab. h. t.; Nels. Ab. h. t.; Selw. N. P. h. t.; 3 Bl. Com. c. 13 Russ. Cr. b. 2, c. 30; 1 0 Mass. R. 72 7 Pick. R. 76; 1 Root's Rep. 129; 1 John. R. 78; 1 S. & R. 219; 3 Yeates' R. 447; 3 Amer. Jurist, 85; 3 Harr. & McH. 441; Rose. Cr. Ev. h. t.; Chit. Cr. L. Index, b. t.; Chit. Pr. Index, b. t., and vol. 1, p. 383; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.