Case, under sections 28 and 29, chapter 143, Public Statutes, for maintaining a structure in the nature of a fence, in violation of the statute.
Upon the trial, defendant moved for a nonsuit, on the ground that the statute is unconstitutional. The motion was denied, and defendant excepted.
Verdict for the plaintiff.[[588]]
Parsons, C. J. “Any fence or other structure in the nature of a fence, unnecessarily exceeding five feet in height, erected or maintained for the purpose of annoying the owners or occupants of adjoining property, shall be deemed a private nuisance.
“Any owner or occupant, injured either in his comfort or the enjoyment of his estate by such nuisance, may have an action of tort for the damage sustained thereby.
“If the plaintiff recovers judgment in the action, the defendant shall cause the removal of the nuisance within thirty days from the date of the judgment, and for each day he shall permit the nuisance to remain after the expiration of said thirty days he shall incur a penalty of ten dollars for the use of the party injured.” P. S. c. 143, ss. 28, 29, 30.
The act forbids the use by one landowner of his land for the unnecessary erection of a fence exceeding five feet in height, when the purpose of such unnecessary height is the annoyance of the adjoining owner or occupant, if such unnecessary height injures the adjoining owner in his comfort or the enjoyment of his estate. The claim of the defendant in support of his motion for a nonsuit, that the statute is unconstitutional, raises the question whether the statutory prohibition is an interference with the defendant’s “natural, essential, and inherent” right of “acquiring, possessing, and protecting property,” or deprives him of that protection in its enjoyment, which is the right of “every member of the community.” Bill of Rights, arts. 2, 12.
The constitutional objection made to the present statute raises the question, if it appears that the statute is an interference with the defendant’s property right, whether the interference is or not one which the legislature might properly make as a regulation of the use of property. The constitutionality of similar statutes has been upheld upon the latter ground, as being merely a small limitation of existing rights incident to property, which under the police power may be imposed for the sake of preventing a manifest evil. “It is hard,” it has been said, “to imagine a more insignificant curtailment of the rights of property.” Rideout v. Knox, 148 Mass. 368, 372, 373; Karasek v. Peier, 22 Wash. 419; Western &c. Co. v. Knickerbocker, 103 Cal. 111. Similar statutes in Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut have been before the courts, but it has not been suggested that the power of the legislature to adopt them has been attacked in those states. Lord v. Langdon, 91 Me. 221; Harbison v. White, 46 Conn. 106; Gallagher v. Dodge, 48 Conn. 387, 40 L. R. A. 181–183, note.
The present statute was passed in 1887. Laws 1887, c. 91. In Hunt v. Coggin, 66 N. H. 140, the verdict was for the defendant; and in Horan v. Byrnes, 70 N. H. 531, the defendant waived any objection to the statute upon this ground. In Lovell v. Noyes, 69 N. H. 263, the question was whether a building was within the terms of the statute. The constitutional question is now presented for the first time.