Nuisance

Anything that unlawfully worketh hurt, inconvenience or damage. 3 BL Comm. 216. That class of wrongs that arise from the unreasonable, unwarrantable, or unlawful use by a person of hls own property, either reni or personal, or from hls own improper, indecent, or unlawful personal conduct, working an obstruction of or injury to the right of another or of the public, and producing such material annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort, or hurt that the law will presume a consequent damage. Wood, Nuis. § 1. Anything which is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, or unlawfully obstructs the free passage of any navigable lake or river, bay; stream, canal, or public park, square, street, or highway, is a nuisance. Civ. Code Cal. § 3479. And see Veazie v. Dwinel, 50 Me. 479 ; People v. Metropolitan Tel. Co., 11 Abb. N. C. (N. Y.) 304; Bohan v. Port Jervis Gaslight Co., 122 N. Y. 18, 25 N. E. 246, 9 L. R. A. 711; Baltimore & P. R. Co. v. Fifth Baptist Church, 137 U. S. 568, 11 Sun. Ct. 185, 34 In Ed. 784; Id., 108 U. S. 317, 2 Sup. Ct. 719, 27 L. Ed. 739; Cardington v. Frederick, 46 Ohio St. 442, 21 N. E. 766; Gifford v. Huiett, 62 Vt. 342, 19 Atl. 230; Ex parte Foote, 70 Ark. 12, 65 S. W. 706, 91 Am. St. Rep. 63; Carthage v. Munsell, 203 111. 474, 67 N. E. 831; Northern Pac. R. Co. v. Whalen, 149 U. S. 157, 13 Sup. Ct. 822, 37 In Ed. 686; Phinizy v. City Council of Augusta, 47 Ga. 266; Alien v. Union Oil Co., 59 S. C. 571, 38 S. E. 274. Classification. Nuisances are commonly classed as public and private, to which is sometimes added a third class calied mixed. A public nuisance is one which affects an indefinite number of persons, or ali the residents of a particular locality, or all people coming within the extent of its range or operation, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal; and hence, though only a few persons may be actually injured or annoyed at any given time, it is none the less a public nuisance if of such a character that it must or will injure or annoy nil that portion of the general public which may be compelled to come into contact with it, or within the range of its influence. See Burnham v. Hotchkiss, 14 Conn. 317; Chesbrough v. Co.m'rs, 37 Ohio St. 508; Lansing v. Smith, 4 Wend. (N. Y.) 30, 21 Am. Dec. 89; Nolan v. New Britain, 69 Conn. 668, 38 Atl. 703; Kelley v. New York, 6 Misc. Rep. 516, 27 N. Y. Supp. 164; Kissel v. Lewis, 156 Ind. 233, 59 N. E. 478 ; Burlington v. Stockwell, 5 Kan. App. 569, 47 Pac. 988; Jones r. Chanute, 63 Kan. 243, 65 Pac. 243; Civ. Code Cal. § 3480. A private nuisance was originally defined as anything done to the hurt or annoyance of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments of another. 3 Bl. Comm. 216. But the modern "definition includes any wrongful act which destroys or deteriorates the property of another or interferes with his lawful use or enjoyment thereof, or any act which unlawfully hinders him in the enjoyment of a common or public right and causes him a special injury. Therefore, although the ground of distinction between public and private nuisances is still the injury to the community at large or, on the other hand, to a single individual, it is evident that the same thing or act may constitute a public nuisance and at the same time a private nuisance, being the latter as to any person who sustains from it, in his person or property, a special injury different from that of the general public. See Heeg v. Licht, 80 N. Y. 582, 36 Am. Rep. 654; Baltzeger v. Carolina Midland R. Co.., 54 S. C. 242, 32 S. E. 358, 71 Am. St Rep. 789 ; Kavanagh v. Barber. 131 N. Y. 211, 30 N. E. 235, 15 L. R. A. 689; Haggart v. Stehlin, 137 Ind. 43, 35 N. E. 997, 22 L. R. A. 577; Dorman v. Ames, 12 Minn. 461 (Gil. 347) ; Ackerman v. True, 175 N. Y. 353, 67 N. E. 629; Kissel v. Lewis, 156 Ind. 233, 59 N. E. 478; Willcox v. Hines, 100 Tenn. 538, 46 S. W. 297, 41 h. R. A. 278, 66 Am. St. Rep. ,770. A mixed nuisance is of the kind last described; that is, it is one which is both public and private in its effects,—public because it injures many persons or all the community, and private in that it also produces special injuries to private rights. Kelley v. New York, 6 Misc. Rep. 516, 27 N. Y. Supp. 164. Other compound and descriptive terms.

— Actionable nuisance. See Actionable.

— Assize of nnisance. In old practice, this was a judicial writ directed to the sheriff of the county in which a nuisance existed, in which it was stated that the party injured complained of some particular fact done ad nocumentum liberi tenements sui, (to the nuisance of his freehold,) and commanding the sheriff to summon an assize (that is, a jury) to view the premises, and have them at the next commission of assizes, that justice might be done, etc. 3 Bl. Comm. 221.

— Common nnisance. One which affects the public in general, and not merely some particular person; a public nuisance. 1 Hawk. P. C. 197.

— Continuing nnisance. An uninterrupted or periodically recurring nuisance; not necessarily a constant or unceasing injury, but a nuisance which occurs so often and is so necessarily an incident of the use of property complained of that it can fairly be said to be continuous. Farley v. Gaslight Co., 105 Ga. 323, 31 S. E. 193.

— Nuisance per se. One which constitutes a nuisance at all times and under ali circumstances, irrespective of locality or surroundings, as, things prejudicial to public morals or dangerous to life or injurious to public rights; distinguished from things declared to be nnisances by statute, and also from things which constitute nuisances only when considered with reference to their particular location or other individual circumstances. Hundley v. Harrison, 123 Ala. 292, 26 South. 294; Whitmore v. Paper Co., 91 Me. 297, 39 Atl. 1032, 40 L. R. A. 377, 64 Am. St. Rep. 229; Windfall Mfg. Co. v. Patterson, 148 Ind. 414, 47 N. E5. 2, 37 L. R. A. 381, 62 Am. St. Rep. 532.