38 N.J. Eq. 452 | New York Court of Chancery | 1884
The parties to this suit own adjoining iron mines in the county of Morris, and work the same vein of ore, but at different levels. The complainants’ mine is in the lower one. The defendants stopped work in their mine in the fall of 1882, having prior to that time removed all the ore which could be removed with safety to their mine. Most of the ore iron remaining in their -mine is in the pillars and walls, which were left, while mining operations- were being carried on, as supports to prevent the surface from caving in. The defendants’ mine adjoins the Rock-away river, its western wall being about seventy-five feet, vertical measurement, below the bed of that stream. The surface above both mines is low and wet, and both carry a great deal of water, and are, what miners call, wet mines. The complainants are actively engaged in working their mine. They say they have ninety thousand tons of ore in sight, and it is estimated that four hundred and ninety thousand tons may be taken out of their present shaft. Their mine, they say, is worth $150,000. The special reason why the complainants seek the aid of the court at this time is, that the defendants have recently avowed a purpose to reduce the pillars of their mine, and take out all the ore which can be taken out at a profit, and let their mine fill with water. They admit, by their answer, that such is their purpose, and they claim the right to reduce the walls and pillars of their mine regardless of the effect that their reduction may have on the mine of the complainants. They admit that they stopped work' in their mine in the fall of 1882, having prior to that time taken out most of the ore that was worth- taking out, except what was in the pillars, and they say that it is usual, when a mine is finally abandoned, to take out the pillars which have been left to support the surface, commencing at the -bottom and working upwards, and when the pillars are reduced, to let the mine cave in if it will.
Two communications now exist between the two mines. They are both the result of trespasses committed on the lands of the complainants. The Carbon Iron Company were the predecessors in title of the defendants. While they owned the mine now
The complainants, on these facts, ask two kinds of prohibitory relief: First, that the defendants may be enjoined from removing the pillars and walls and other supports of their mine to such an extent as to endanger the caving in of the surface; and secondly, that they may be enjoined from permitting the water to flow from their mine into the complainants’ mine through the two apertures. The defendants deny the complainants’ right to either measure of relief. They claim the right to remove all the ore from their land without regard to the effect the removal may have on the complainants’ mine. They say that their right to do so is in no way restricted or impaired by the fact that their predecessors in title, and their lessees, have unlawfully made
For water which gets into the complainants’ mine, from the defendants’, by gravitation or percolation, or by any other natural means, it is clear that the defendants are in no way responsible. Land on a lower level is under a natural servitude to that located above it, to receive the water flowing down to it naturally. Yor can the defeudants be held liable for any injurious consequences resulting to the complainants from work done by the defeudants in their mine in a skillful and proper manner. It was declared in Smith v. Kenrick, 7 C. B. 515, to be the natural right of each of the owners of two adjacent mines, neither being subject to any servitude to the other, to work his own in the manner most convenient and beneficial to himself, although the natural consequence may be that some prejudice will accrue to the owner of the adjoining mine, so long as that does not arise from negligent or malicious conduct. The rule defining the rights and liabilities of adjoining mine-owners, may be stated in this form : For damages resulting from natural causes, or from lawful acts done in a proper manner, the law gives no redress, such losses being regarded as damnum absque injuria, but where one of the two adjoining mine-owners conducts water into his neighbor’s mine, which would not otherwise go there, or causes it to go there at different times and in larger quantities than it would go there naturally, he commits a wrong which the law
The only ease containing any remarks tending to support the extreme ground taken by the defendants, is Clegg v. Dearden, 12 Ad. & E. (N. S.) 576. The defendant in that case had made an opening into the mine occupied by the plaintiff. An action was then brought, which was subsequently referred to an arbitrator. The arbitrator made an award to the plaintiff for the damages he had sustained by the opening. The defendant paid the damages so awarded and the plaintiff accepted them. Afterwards, the plaintiff brought a new action to recover damages which he claimed to have suffered subsequent to the date of the award. He alleged that the defendant had wrongfully kept the aperture open subsequent to the award, in consequence of which the water
The duty of the court is plain. The law is settled. In a case substantially identical in all its material facts, the chancellor extended protection to the aggrieved party by injunction. Thomas Iron Co. v. Allentown Mining Co., 1 Stew. Eq. 77. In that case, as here, an opening had been made from the defendants’ mine into the complainants’, unlawfully, and there, as here, the defendants threatened to remove the pillars and other supports and let their mine fill with water. The chancellor held that inasmuch as the defendants had made an opening into the complainants’ mine, it was no stretch of authority to prohibit them from such use of their property as would inflict damage on the complainants’ property. He also declared that even if the complainants had themselves made the opening between the tvm mines, it would still have been the duty of the court to have pro
The complainants are entitled to an injunction restraining the defendants from removing the pillars, walls and other supports of their mine to such an extent as to endanger the caving in of the surface.
The complainants’ right to the other measure of relief they ask is not so clear, on the facts now before the court, as to make the path of duty plain. They ask an injunction restraining the defendants from permitting water to flow from their mine into the complainants’ mine through the two aperture'. Though they pray that relief be granted to them by a simple prohibition, yet it is obvious that if the relief they ask be given to them, it must be mandatory in its character. The defendants cannot prevent the water from flowing through the two apertures except by building bulkheads or some other barrier, or by pumping. The injunction, to accomplish its purpose, must command or coerce the defendants to do certain affirmative acts, not merely to remain inactive or refrain. Injunctions of this nature are rarely granted before final hearing, or before the parties have had a full opportunity to present all the facts of the case in such manner