Morris v. Graham

Citations

• 16 Wash. 343
• 47 P. 752
• 1897 Wash. LEXIS 317

Syllabus

<p>PUBLIC NUISANCE — ACTION BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL TO RESTRAIN — RIGHT OE FISHERY — LICENSE.</p> <p>A private individual may properly maintain an action in behalf of himself and others similarly situated to enjoin the construction and maintenance of a fish trap in a river, when such trap, although constituting a public nuisance, at the same time causes special damages to plaintiff and others in the same class in the pursuit of their business as drift or gill net fishermen.</p> <p>The right of fishery is common to all citizens of the state, and parties cannot be permitted to obtain the sole benefit in any locality by the construction and operation of a trap or pound net, which would practically exclude others from fishing in the same waters.</p> <p>A license to fish granted by the state fish commissioner under Laws 1893, p. 15, constitutes a roving license, and cannot be construed as authority for the maintenance of a trap at any designated point.</p>