River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-02-26
POPULAR TALKS ON LAW
Continued from First Page


land, bat not to those who own
separate parts of the same building
Thus one may own the first floor of
building and another the second.
Neither is bound, in the absence of
special agreement, TO keep his por-
ton in repair SO that injury may
not result to the other portion. If
the owner of the upper portion fails
TO keep the roof in repair and rain
Injuries the property Of the owner of
the lower half there is no liability.
Every landowner owes to his
neighbor what is known in law as
lateral support. That is, in dig.
gin9 ditch, or making an sxcava-
ton close to the line, the person
doing the digging must see to it
that support is nor Withdrawn from
his neighbours land so that it will
cave in or be weakened in any way.
Neither landowner may withdraw
the support from the others land
This does not mean that one may
not excavate, but it means that he
must by means of a wall, or by any
props, support the others land so
that it will not tumble down. If he
fails to do this he is responsible for
all resulting injury.
The support that is owed to the
land of the neighbor is support to
the land in it's natural condition,
that is unincumbered by the weight
of buildings. Thus if one excavates
on his own property, and the land
of his neighbor on which house is
situated caves in, he is responsible
for the resulting injury if the exca
walton would have caused the land
to cave in had no house rested upon
it. But if the land would not have
caved in but for the weight of the
building upon il the person digging
has not violated the duty of lateral
support to the land in its natural
condition and is not responsible.
This right to excavate does not
relieve the landowner from the duty
to take reasonable precautions and
carry on the work with due care.
He must exercise ordinary skill and
care to avoid injury to the adjoin-
ing land upon which there are
buildings. In many states statutes
have been enacted which govern
the making of excavations, limit
the depth, specify the precautions
which must be taken, etc. Usually
these statutes require that notice be
given to the owner of the
adjoining property of the intended
excavation so that buildings may
be protected. Whether there is
statute or not this is wise precau-
ton.
In the absence of some special re-
striction one may build almost any
sort of a structure that he desires
on his property and in any location
so long as he keeps it within the
boundaries of his property. He
owes no duty to his neighbor not to
shut off the light or air from
structure on the adjoining premises.
This is the general rule. There
may be some restriction applying
to the particular premises, imposed
by the transfer of some previous
owner, which regulates the kind of
a structure which may be built.
where it may built and for what
purposes it may be used. There
may be a municipal ordinance re
gulating the sort of building that
may be built within certain limits,
and if so it must be complied with
Before you plan to erect stru @ture
or buy land with view to erecting a
structure be sure that you know
what the restrictions are. Spite
houses" are, generally speaking,
within the law. One may build any
sort of structure he will, in the
absence of restrictions, and the
law will not inquire into his mo-
tives.
The air must not be unreasonably
polluted by smoke, gases or odors
Whether any use is unreasonable
depends upon the particular cir
cumstances of the general location
The pulution must be so serious as
to interfere with the ordinary en-