nuisance, in law, a human activity or a physical condition that is harmful or offensive to others and gives rise to a cause of action. A public nuisance created in a public place or on public land, or affecting the morals, safety, or health of the community, is considered an offense against the state. Such activities as obstructing a public road, polluting air and water, operating a house of prostitution, and keeping explosives are public nuisances. A private nuisance is an activity or condition that interferes with the use and enjoyment of neighbouring privately owned lands, without, however, constituting an actual invasion of the property. Thus, excessive noise, noxious vapours, and disagreeable odours and vibrations may constitute a private nuisance to the neighbouring landowners, although there has been no physical trespass on their lands.
While a public nuisance, as such, is actionable only by the state, through criminal proceedings, injunction, or physical abatement, the same activity or conduct may also create a private nuisance to neighbouring landowners and thus result in a civil suit. The conduct of a business in violation of a zoning ordinance creates a public nuisance, but it also may be actionable as a private nuisance by neighbours who can prove a decrease in the market value of their homes as a result.
Because a private nuisance is based upon interference with the use and enjoyment of land, it is actionable only by persons who have a property interest in such land. If the interference merely makes the use and enjoyment less comfortable, without inflicting physical damage to the land, the courts consider the character of the neighbourhood to determine whether the activity or condition is an unreasonable interference. An activity that causes physical damage to neighbouring land, however, will be held to be an actionable nuisance irrespective of the character of the neighbourhood. Such cases usually involve vibrations that cause walls to crack or noxious vapours that destroy vegetation.
The legal remedies available in the case of a private nuisance are actions to enjoin the operation or continuance of the activity or condition or to collect money damages. If the abatement of a nuisance by injunction would impose an excessive hardship on the community (the closing of factories that would deprive community workers of their livelihood), the usual practice of the courts is to deny an injunction and award money damages for the injury suffered.