Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-05-15
FIRST EDITION.
What Is n aNuisance." !"
CHARGE OF JUDGE WALES TO THE GRAND JURY OF


| CHARGE OF JUDGE WALES TO THE GRAND JURY OF
| NEWCASTLE GO.
Iu the course OF his charge to the Grand Jury
OF this county, at New Castle on Monday, Judge
Wales defined ut some length the legal charac-
ter OF e nuisance" We print below that part
Il of the charge
Section 1s of Chapter 1877 OF the Revised Sta
| tutes of Delaware. enacts that Assaults, bat
teries, nuisances and all other offences indicta-
| BILE at common law, aud not specially provided
| for by statute, shall be deemed msdemeanors
and shall be punished by fine aud imprisonment
or either, according to the discretion of the
| conrt.
former are only indictabe as coming under the
head Of public wrongs Private nuisances may
| be remeded by actions at law or abated by ap-
pllcatlon in equity for an injunction, where the
offending party is likely to commit an irrepar-
| able injury. Public or common nuisances can
only be reached by summary action on the part
OF the people, or by an indictment.
Nuisance, in its largest sense, signifies any
thing that worketh hurt Inconvenience, or dan
ger. All the acts put forth by men which tend
directly to create evil consequences to the COM
munty at large may be deemed nuisances where
they are of such magnitude as to require the In
terpostion of the courts.
Public or common nuisanceB include disorder
ly houses and houses of ill-fame distractions to
navigable streams, corruption OF the air or wa
ter, indecent exposure of the person, unhealthy
trades, loud and unnecessary noises, noisolne
and offensive smells, etc.
In reference to the general question what con-
stitutes nuisance, technically so-called pre-
else definition il of course impracticable, and
the law is best explained by the particular in-
stances of annoyances or injury which have
been adjudged to be or not to be Iuisances.
The following test has been laid down by Vice
Chancellor Bruce - Is the Inconvenience more
than fanclful or one of mere delicacy or fastd-
ousness as All Inconvenience materially inter
puftl
human existence, not merely according to ele-
giant or dainty modes or habits of living. but ac-
cording to plain, sober or simple notions among
the English people.
1t has been remarked that one Of the charac-
teristics of nuisance fs, that it consists in the
use of ones own property, which involves injury
to the property, or other right or interest of his
neghbor. Aud the principle is laid down that
II one carry on lawful business in such man.
ner as to prove nuisance to bis neighbor he is
anHwerable for the damages. In general ii may
be said that any injury TO lands or houses, which
renders them useless or even uncomfortable
for habitation, is II nuisance. Thus in regard to
oHenslVeodors, 1t is said, the neighborhood has
q right to pure and fresh air, and smell need
not be- unwholesome il it is offensive and rem
ders the enjoyment OF life and property uncom-
Portable, as by giving many persons headaches.
30 with reference to nuisanons in violation of
decency, that whatever place becomes the habi-
tation of civilized men there the laws Of decency
must be enforced. So IL is nuisance to throw,
from day to day, into water used for ordinary
purposes OF life, any substance that renders il
less pure, and exctes disgust in those who use
it. ~
Unwholesome trades, slaughter houses, oper-
atoms offensive to the senses. the deposit of
powder, the application OF steam power to pro-
pei cars, the building with combustible material
and the burial of the dead may all be interdicted
by law, in the midst OF dense masses of popula-
tion, on the general and rational principle that
every person ought to use his property 20 as not
to injufe his neighbors, and that private inter
ests must be made subservieDt to the general |
interests Of the community. y.-hept Com.
But no writer on the subject has more con- |
csely defined common nuisances and stated the |
law in relation thereto than the late Professor |
Greenleaf, i'll his work on the law Of evidence, |
and we cannot give you q better idea OF the |
whole subject than by quoting his exact Ian |
guage: "Common nuisauces are a species of |
oHSnce against the public order and economical /
regimen of the State being either the doug of /
thing to the annoyance or all the citizens or /
the neglectiug TO do thing which the common i
good requires. More particularly it is said to
comprehend the endangering the public person.
al safety or health, or doing, or causing, occa-
sloning, promoting, maintaining continuing
what is nosome and offensive, or annoying and |
vexatious or plainly hurtful to the public, or is a
public outrage to common decency, or common
morality OF tends plainly and directly to
the corruption OF the morals honesty and good
habits OF the people the same being without
authority or justification by law.
Hence 1t ID indictable, as common nuisance,
to carry on an offensive trade or manufacture
in a settled neighborhood or place of usual
public resort or travel, whether the of
fence be to the sight, or smell, or hear
ing or TO expose the citizens to a contagious
disease, by carrying an infected person through
a frequented street or opening hospital in an
improper place or to use and keep gunpowder
in or neara frequented place without authority
therefor or to make great noises in the night
by a trumpet or the like to the disturbance of
the neghborhood or to keep drinking house,
or house Of ill-fame, or indeeently expose the
person, or 10 be guilty of open lewdness and
asciyious behavior, or to be frequently and pub.
cly drunk and In that state exposed to the pub
lie view, or to be q common scold, or a common
eavesdropper, or 10 obstruct public highway"
The catalogue OF public nusancss has been
made from adjudged cssee which were regularly
llied by a court and jury on the law and facts,
he jury deciding upon the existence of the nui-
sance i'll each particular case.
In conclusion we will remind you that no
ength of time will Justify public nuisance.
And 1t il no defence to indictment for carry.
ng on a noxious trade that it has been carried
IN for more than twenty years before the neigh
1orhood become 80 inhabited and used by the
public as to make it common nuisance.
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