NUISANCE Letters A-C

NUISANCE CONCEPT AND DEFINITION(s) Nuisance is a flexible area of the law that is adaptable to a wide variety of factual situations because the term nuisance itself is incapable of an exact and exhaustive definition which fit all cases, because the controlling facts are seldom alike, and each case stands on its own footing. The word nuisance is derived from the French word nuire which means to injure, hurt or harm. Literally therefore, it means annoyance, anything that works hurt or injury. It is so broad that it covers anything that unlawfully works hurt, inconvenience or damage. That class of wrongs that arise from the unreasonable, unwarrantable, unlawful use by a person of his property, either real or personal, or from his own improper, indecent or unlawful personal conduct, working an obstruction of or injury to the right of another or of the public, ad producing such material annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort, or hurt that the law will presume resulting damage (Elmer T. Rabuya, Property, 2011)

WHAT THE LAW SAYS Article 694, NCC Any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property, or anything else which: (1) (2) (3) (4) Injures or endangers the health or safety of others; or Annoys or offends the senses; or Shocks, defies, or disregards decency or morality; or Obstructs or interferes with the free passage of any public highway or street, or any body of water; or (5) Hinders or impairs the use of property and Sections 84 and 85 of Pres. Decree 856 CHAPTER XIX NUISANCES AND OFFENSIVE TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS Section 84. Definition of Terms As used in this Chapter, the following terms shall mean and include: (a) Nuisance anything that injures health, endangers life, offends the senses or produces discomfort to the community.

(b) Offensive trades or occupations These are the following: 1. Soap boiling; 2. Guts cleaning; 3. Boiling of offal, bones, fat or lard; (Permissible if process is performed in a public slaughterhouse under prescribed regulations.) 4. Manufacturing of glue or fertilizer; 5. Skin curing; 6. Scrap processing; 7. Manure storing; 8. Lime burning; 9. Lye making; and 10. Any manufacturing process in which lead, arsenic, mercury, phosphorous, or other poisonous substance is used. Section 85. Types of Nuisances For the purpose of this Chapter, the following shall be considered nuisances: (a) Public or private premises maintained and used in a manner injurious to health; (b) Breeding places and harborages of vermin; (c) Animals and their carcasses which are injurious to health; (d) Accumulation of refuse; (e) Noxious matter or waste water discharged improperly in streets; (f) Animals stockage maintained in a manner injurious to health; (g) Excessive noise; and (h) Illegal shanties in public or private properties. NUISANCE AND TORT Correlation with some Civil Law Topics The imposition of strict liability According to American Scholars or Law Emissaries specializing on the law of torts, Fowler Vincent Harper and Fleming James, Jr Nuisance has remained an isolated island of liability without fault and courts have resorted to nuisance terminology to impose liability when prompted by policy considerations emerging from the idea of the inviolability of private property rights, enterprises involving high risks, and the notion that expanding industry with its high profits should make good for loss caused to innocent bystanders in the role of nearby property owners. In connection with Article 431 of the Civil Code (on Property) Article 431, NCC The owner of a thing cannot make use thereof in such a manner as to injure the rights of a third person.

The law on nuisance is a restriction or limitation upon ownership and a manifestation of the principle that every person should so use his property as not to cause damage or injury to others.

LIKEWISE Easement Against Nuisance The NCC makes the protection against nuisance Article 682, NCC Every building or piece of land is subject to the easement which prohibits the proprietor or possessor from committing nuisance through noise, jarring, offensive odor, smoke, heat, dust, water, glare and other causes. Reason for prohibiting a nuisance A nuisance is that which, among others, annoys or offends the senses and it should therefore be prohibited. Easement is created by law and is inherent in every land. It is a proper limitation on ownership, as easements of distances, and light and view. It is a manifestation of the principle that every person should so use his property as not to cause damage or injury to others. (Report of Code Commission, p. 51) Distinguished from Negligence Liability for negligence is based on want of a proper care, while, ordinarily, a person who creates or maintains a nuisance is liable for the resulting injury to others regardless of the degree of care or skill exercised to avoid such injury. NUISANCE vs. ATTRACTIVE NUISANCE Nuisance is, by its very nature, harmful to the community or certain kinds of persons. Attractive Nuisance is considered only as nuisance because it attracts certain kinds of persons.

KINDS of NUISANCE Art. 695, NCC Nuisance is either public or private. A public nuisance affects a community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance, danger or damage upon individuals may be unequal. A private nuisance is one that is not included in the foregoing definition. Public Nuisance An unlawful act or omission to discharge a legal duty, which act or omission endangers the lives, safetsy, health, property, or comfort of the public, or by which

the public is obstructed in the exercise or enjoyment of any right common to all (English Definition) The doing or failure to do something that injuriously affects safety, health, or morals of the public, or works of some substantial annoyance, inconvenience, or injury to the public, and as a nuisance which causes hurt, inconvenience, or damage to the public generally, or such a part of the public as necessarily comes in contact with it in the exercise of a public or common right (Judge Cezar S. Sangco, Philippine Law on Torts and Damages, Volume 2, 1994) Examples of Public Nuisance (to follow) Private Nuisance One which violates only private rights and produces damages to but one or a few persons, and cannot be said to be public It affects only an individual or limited number of individuals It exist only where one is injured in relation to a right which he enjoys by reason of his ownership of an interest in land, and to be an individual wrong arising from an unreasonable, unwarrantable, or unlawful use of ones property producing such material annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort, or hurt that the law will presume a consequent damage. Examples of Private Nuisance (to follow) DISTINCTIONS: PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE NUISANCE (1) Extent or Scope of its injurious effect. Public Nuisance affects the public at large or such of them as may come in contact with it; Private Nuisance affects the individual or a limited number of individuals only. (2) Remedies available. Public Nuisance are indictable; whereas, private nuisances are actionable, either for their abatement or for damages, or both. However, Nuisance may still be both public and private in character WHEN?