The Question

Nuisance cases have figured prominently in the literature of law and economics because they present simple and sometimes charming fact patterns in which courts must pick between awarding property rights to parties and awarding them money. A nuisance suit arises when a plaintiff complains to a court that his neighbor is interfering unreasonably with the use and enjoyment of his property – usually because the neighbor is engaging in some activity that is noisy, noisome, or otherwise offensive to the plaintiff. A typical example of a nuisance case that has figured prominently in law and economics scholarship is the old English case of Bryant v. Lefever. The plaintiff and the defendants were neighbors. The defendants began rebuilding their house and built a high wall with timber stacked on top of it; the wall ran alongside the plaintiff's chimney and caused some of the smoke from it to back up into the plaintiff's house. The plaintiff sued, claiming the wall was a nuisance. The court rejected the claim. Coase used this case to illustrate his analysis in The Problem of Social Cost: