Murden v. Commissioners of Lewes, Inc.

Citations

• 29 Del. 48
• 6 Boyce 48
• 96 A. 506
• 1915 Del. LEXIS 69

Syllabus

<p>1. Municipal Corporations—Streets—Obstructions—Removal.</p> <p>If the mayor of an incorporated town had authority to give the owner of a houseboat permission to place it within the limits of a public street or highway, he and the commissioners also had power and authority to revoke such license; but if the permission was given and had not been revoked, the town authorities had no legal right to remove the houseboat from the place where it was located.</p> <p>2. Evidence—Parol Evidence—Receipts.</p> <p>A receipt for the payment of a tax to the commissioners of a town with any indorsement thereon might be explained.</p> <p>3. Nuisance—“Public Nuisance”—Things Constituting.</p> <p>A “nuisance” may be anything which essentially interferes with the enjoyment of life or property, and a nuisance is “public” when it affects the rights to which every citizen is entitled.</p> <p>4. Municipal Corporations—Streets—Obstructions as Nuisances.</p> <p>Avenues, streets and highways are generally designed for and devoted t.o the public use for travel and transportation, and the whole public have the right to their use in their entirety, and any unlawful tangible obstruction which interferes with its use for the purposes of public travel and transportation is a public nuisance.</p> <p>5. Municipal Corporations—Streets—Obstructions as Nuisances.</p> <p>The public have the right generally to go upon and use any part of a public highway, and the mere fact that an obstruction is not upon the part of the highway usually used for travel will not relieve the obstruction from being a public nuisance.</p> <p>6. Municipal Corporations—Streets—Obstructions—Removal.</p> <p>If a houseboat stood on a public highway or avenue of an incorporated town and was a public nuisance, the owner should have removed it and abated the nuisance if notified by the town commissioners to do so, and upon his refusal or failure to remove it, the town commissioners had the right in law to abate the nuisance by summ