A Practical Treatise on the Law of Nuisances in Their Various Forms

ON

THE LAW OF NUISANCES

IN THEIR

VARIOUS FORMS;

INCLUDING

REMEDIES THEREFOR AT LAW AND IN EQUITY.

BY H. G. WOOD,

ATTORNEY AND COUNSELOR AT LAW.

ALBANY, N. Y.

JOHN D. PARSONS, JR., PUBLISHER.

1875.

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five,

BY JOHN D. PARSONS, JR.,

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS, ALBANY, N. Y.

PREFACE.

I can assure the profession that it is with no small degree of trepidation that I submit this work to their criticism. But, whatever may be the reception with which it meets at their hands, I have the consciousness that I have labored earnestly, faithfully and honestly to make it a work worthy their patronage and favor. That it is not free from faults, I am fully aware, but it must be remembered that I was a pioneer in this "wilderness" of law, with no compass to guide me, but left to find my way through the entangled mass, as best I might. No work upon the subject has previously been written, and, while there are numerous works in which a single chapter is devoted to the subject, yet, in every instance, I have found those chapters worse than useless, as affording any light upon the subject. They are necessarily superficial views of the subject, and calculated to mislead, rather than to serve as a guide.

I have examined most of the decided cases bearing upon the various branches of the subject in the reports of the courts, both of this country and England, that were within my reach. I believe that none of any importance have escaped my attention. If so, it has been through inadvertence, and not design.

That the work may be found useful, both to the student and practicing lawyer, is my earnest wish, and, if I have failed to grasp the subject with that vigor, or to set it forth with the

clearness desirable, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have at least cleared the way for some abler and more vigorous writer, who may hereafter take up the subject.

ALBANY, N. Y., April 12, 1875.

NOTE.

H. G. WOOD.

Since this work went to press, the Supreme Court of Illinois, in the case of Stone v. The F. P. & N. W. R. R. Co. (Am. Law Times, vol. 2, p. 54), have held that a railroad company which, in the operation of its road, casts smoke, dust or cinders over or upon the estate of one whose lands have not been taken for the construction of its road, is liable for all damages resulting therefrom, whether to the property itself or its comfortable enjoyment. This doctrine conflicts with Brand v. Hammersmith R. R. Co., 4 H. L. Cas. 451, but it is sustained by substantial justice, and rests upon sound principles. See, also, Eaton v. Boston, Concord & Maine R. R. Co., 51 N. H. 504, where, in effect, a similar doctrine is held.

H. G. W.