Town of Lake View v. Letz

Citations

• 44 Ill. 81

Syllabus

<p>1. Nuisance—concerning power of certain town officers—to prevent asa nuisance the location of a cemetery. When, by an act of the legislature, certain officers of the town of Lake View were created a board of trustees, with power, among other things, “to abate and remove nuisances, and punish the authors thereof by penalties, fines and imprisonment, and to authorize and direct the summary abatement thereofand such board of trustees, under this authority, passed an ordinance, forbidding any cemetery to be opened in the town, without first obtaining their permission, under pain of a certain penalty, — held, that he board of trustees had no power, under this grant, to prohibit, in advance, the establishment of any cemetery except as authorized by the board.</p> <p>2. Decrees—not affected by subsequent legislation. When, by a decree of court, a town ordinance was declared invalid, and afterward, by an act of the legislature, the ordinance in question was declared valid, such act made the ordinance valid only from the day of its own passage, and cannot affect the question of error in a decree rendered prior to that date.</p> <p>3. Nuisances—injunction. Where the thing complained of is not necessarily a nuisance, but may or may not be so, according to circumstances, a court of chancery will not stay a party until the matter has been tried at law, or, in special cases, by a jury, on an issue directed out of chancery.</p> <p>4. And where the alleged nuisance consists in the obstruction of a street, there is, unless in fare and exceptional cases, a complete remedy at law, to which resort must first be had, and in which the right must be established.</p> <p>5. So, where it is proposed to establish a cemetery in a town, a court of chancery will not interpose its preventive power, upon the alleged grounds that the cemetery will bo injurious to the public health, and that it will obstruct certain streets which have been dedicated to the public.</p>