Hundley v. Harrison

123 Ala. 292
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedNovember 15, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 123 Ala. 292 (Hundley v. Harrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hundley v. Harrison, 123 Ala. 292 (Ala. 1898).

Opinion

HARALSON, J.

Bill filed by the appellant, Hundley, to enjoin a private nuisance.

A public nuisance, according to the authorities, affects the community at large, or some considerable portion of it, such as the inhabitants of a toAAUi, and the person therein offending is liable to a criminal prosecution. A private nuisance affects only one person or a determinate number of persons, and is the ground for civil proceeding only. — 16 Am. & Eng. Encyc. LaAv, 926; 1 Wood on Nuisances, §§ 14, 15. .

Nuisances per se have been defined to be such things as are nuisances at all times and under all circumstances, irrespective of location or surroundings, as tilings prejudicial to public: morals, as disorderly houses; or dangerous to life, as poAvder magazines, or nitro-glycerine works; or injurious to public rights, as obstructions to highways and navigable streams. — 16 [297]*297Am. & Eng. Encve. Law, 937; 1 Wood on Nuisances, §§ 24-27.

Mr. Wood lays down tlie rule as to private nuisances; v hicli seems to be consonant with reason and authority, to he, that a man may do an act on his own land which is not unlawful or wrong, — not using it in such manner as to injure another, for he may not so use his property as to injure another. “When he sends on to the lairds of his neighbor noxious smells, smoke, etc., then he is not doing an act on his own property only, but lie is doing an act on his neighbor’s property also; because every man has a right, by the common law', to the pure air and to have no noxious smells sent on his lands, unless, by a period of time a man has, by what is called prescriptive right, obtained the power of throwing a burden on his neighbor’s property.” — 1 Wood oil Nuisances, § 556.

The same author again, in section 562 of his work, says: “In the case of noisome smells, as with nuisances from smoke or noxious vapors, the stenches must he of such a character as to be offensive to the senses, or as to produce actual physical discomfort, such as materially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of property, within their sphere. -It is not necessary that the smells should be hurtful or unwholesome,-it is sufficient if they are offensive, or produce such consequences, inconvenience or discomfort, as to impair the comfortable enjoyment of property, by persons of ordinary sensibilities,” — such as people generally, in the absence of proof to the contrary, will be presumed to have. “A smell that is simply disagreeable to ordinary persons, is such physical annoyance as makes the use of property producing it a nuisance, whether it he hurtful in its effects or not.” — § 563; 16 Am. & Eng. Encyc. Law, 948; Campbell v. Seaman, 63 N. Y. 568, s. c. 20 Am. Rep. 567.

Keferring to our own decisions, in line with these authorities, it has been said: “Anything constructed on a person's premises which, of itself, or byits intended use, directly jujures a neighbor in the proper use and enjoyment of his property, is a nuisance.”—Grady v. Wolsner, 46 Ala. 381.

[298]*298Again in English v. Progress E. L. & M. Co., 95 Ala. 264, it was said.: “It is difficult, if not impracticable, to formulate a mile accurately defining tlie acts or facts which will constitute a nuisance under any and all cir-' cumslances. We shall not make the attempt. As a general proposition, it may be said, that any establishment erected on the premises of the owner, though for the purpose of trade or business lawful in itself, which, from the situation, the inherent qualities of the business, or the manner in which it is conducted, directly causes substantial injury to the property of another, or produces material annoyance and inconvenience to the occupants of adjacent dwellings, rendering them physically uncomfortable, is a nuisance. In applying this principle, it has been repeatedly held, that smoke, offensive odors, noise or vibrations, when of such degree or extent as to materially interfere with the ordinary comfort of human existence, will constitute a nuisance.*’ To the same effect sce Rouse v. Martin, 75 Ala. 515.

The doctrine has been invoked by appellee in this case, that an injunction should not be granted until the thing complained of has been declared a nuisance by the verdict of a jury in .an action at law, the exception being as stated, when the proof is clear, and convincing and the apprehended injury is vast and overwhelming. But we apprehend the rule has by recent decisions been extended no further than, — as was declared in English v. Progress E. L. & M. Co., supra,— that “a case must be proved which establishes the necessity of a preventive remedy, — a case Avithin that class tof cases of irreparable and continuous injury which can be adequately redressed only by injunction; and in all cases, where the right is doubtful, and the exercise of the power Avould interfere with industries of public utility, it becomes the duty of the court to abstain from interfering. In such a case the proof should be clear and convincing, and the power should be cautiously and sparing exercised.”— Kingsbury v. Flowers, 65 Ala. 479.

In the well considered case of Campbell v. Seaman, supra, it was said that an injunction was formerly and prior to Lord Eldon’s time, “rarely issued in the case of a nuisance until plaintiff’s right had been established [299]*299at law, and tlie doctrine which seems now to preA-ail in Pennsylvania, that this writ is not a matter of right hut of grace, to a large extent prevailed. But now, a suit at law is no longer a necessary preliminary, and the right to an injunction, in a proper case in England and in' most of the States, is just as fixed and certain as the right to any other provisional remedy. The writ can rightfully lie demanded to prevent irreparable injury, interminable litigation and a multiplicity' of suits, and its refusal in a proper case, would be error to be corrected by an appellate tribunal.”

In Nininger v. Norwood, 72 Ala. 277, the same doctrine is announced. It was there said: “The jurisdiction of the court to enjoin the erection, or the continuance of private nuisances, compelling their abatement, at the instance of the party aggrieved, is Avell established. * * *. There is, in the contemplation of the court, a very just distinction between injuries in their nature temporary and fugitive, and injuries permanent,, continuous, constantly recurring. In reference to temporary injuries, the intervention of the court may depend upon the adequacy of legal remedies. But, Avlien the injury is permanent, continuous, constantly recurring, there may be a remedy at law, but its inadequacy is obAÚous. The court of law cannot restore the party complaining to the condition in which he was before the Avrong was done, and in which he has the legal right to remain.” It was added, referring to the facts of that case, “Nor, if the right of complainant is clear, — if as a matter of Iuaa', the lands of the defendants are burdened Avith the servitude claimed, — is it essential that, as a condition precedent to the interference of the court, the right should have been established by a verdict and judgment at law. Substantial, actual injury has resulted, and there can be no necessity for sending the party to a court of law, for the determination of a mere legal question, compelling submission to the wrong during the pendency of the. action.”

We'h ave stated the foregoing principles that Ave may apply the facts of the case in hand to them.

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123 Ala. 292, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hundley-v-harrison-ala-1898.