Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1st ed, 1768, vol III).djvu/17

Ch. 1. it is provided, that this natural right of recaption mall never be exerted, where fuch exertion muft occafion ftrife and bodily con- tention, or endanger the peace of fociety. If, for inftance, my horfe is taken away, and I find him in a common, a fair, or a public inn, I may lawfully feife him to my own ufe : but I can- not juftify breaking open a private ftable, or entering on the grounds of a third perfon, to take him, except he be felonioufly ftolen ; but muft have recourfe to an action at law.

III. A s recaption is a remedy given to the party himfelf, for an injury to his ferfonal property, fo, thirdly, a remedy of the fame kind for injuries to real property is by entry on lands and tenements, when another perfon without any right has taken polTeflion thereof. This depends in fome meafure on like reafons with the former -, and, like that too, muft be peaceable and without force. There is fome nicety required to define and dif- tinguifh the cafes, in which fuch entry is lawful or otherwife : it will therefore be more fully confidered in a fubfequent chap- ter, being only mentioned in this place for the fake of regularir ty and order.

IV. A FOURTH fpecies of remedy by the mere act of the party injured, is the abatement, or removal, of nufances. What nufances are, and their feveral fpecies, we mall find a more pro- per place to enquire under fome of the fubfequent divifions. At prefent I fhall only obferve, that whatfoever unlawfully annoys or doth damage to another is a nufance ; and fuch nufance may be abated, that is, taken away or removed, by the party aggrieved thereby, fo as he commits no liot in the dbing of it. If a houfe or wall is erected fo near to mine that it flops my antient lights, which is a private nufance, I may enter my neighbour's land, and peaceably pull it down. Or if a new gate be erected acrofs the public highway, which is a common nufance, any of the king's fubjects paffing that way may cut it down, and deftroy it. And Rh