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If a landowner drops a tree across her neighbor’s boundary line she has committed a trespass; if her canine barks all evening maintaining the neighbor awake, she may be responsible for nuisance. Examples of private nuisances abound. Nuisances that intrude with the bodily condition of the land include vibration or blasting that damages a house; destruction of crops; elevating of a water table; or the air pollution of soil, a stream, or an underground water supply. Examples of nuisances interfering with the comfort, comfort, or health of an occupant are foul odors, noxious gases, smoke, dust, loud noises, excessive gentle, or excessive temperatures. Moreover, a nuisance can also disturb an occupant’s psychological tranquility, corresponding to a neighbor who keeps a vicious dog, even though an damage is simply threatened and has not actually occurred.

To set up liability under a nuisance principle, interference with the plaintiff’s interest should be substantial. Determining substantial interference in circumstances where the bodily situation of the property is affected will typically be pretty easy. More difficult are those instances predicated on personal inconvenience, discomfort, or annoyance. To decide whether or not an interference is substantial, courts apply the standard of an ordinary member of the neighborhood with regular sensitivity and temperament. A plaintiff can not, by placing his or her land to an unusually delicate use, make a nuisance out of the defendant’s conduct that would otherwise be relatively harmless. In growing his concept of pure rights, Locke was influenced by reviews of society among … Read More