Western Granite & Marble Co. v. Knickerbocker

Citations

• 103 Cal. 111
• 37 P. 192
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 733

Syllabus

<p>Basement fob Light and Aib—User—Ownership of Adjoining Lot. The doctrine that a proprietor of land may by user acquire an easement over adjoining land for the passage of light and air does not prevail in this country, and merely owning the adjoining lot cannot give the proprietors such an easement.</p> <p>Id,—Poweb of Legislature—Nuisance.—It is not competent for the legislature to vest in an adjoining proprietor the power to prevent his neighbor from building such structure as he pleases, provided it is not a nuisance, and it is not a nuisance merely because it obstructs the passage of light and air.</p> <p>Id.—Act Regulating Division Bences—Constitutional Law.—The act of March 9, 1885, regulating the height of division fences and partition walls in cities and towns is a general law, and is to be construed so as to not render it unconstitutional; and so construed, it prevents the erection of a partition wall or division fence resting upon the division line between adjoining proprietors more than ten feet in height; but it does not prevent the erection of any kind of a structure of greater height wholly upon the land of an adjoining proprietor, although such structure may prevent the passage of light and air into the windows of the adjoining building.</p> <p>Id,—Injunction Against Division Fence—Effect of Judgment.—A defendant may be properly enjoined from erecting or maintaining any fence more than ten feet high on the division line, and may be required to remove all that portion of the division fence which is more than ten feet high, and be enjoined from obstructing the light and air coming from his premises into the windows upon the adjoining land by any division fence or wall more than ten feet high; but such judgment has no effect upon the right of the defendant to erect any structure of greater height upon his own land.</p>