The opinion of the court was delivered by
This suit wаs brought on the relation of the county attorney to have a certain house adjudged a commоn nuisance and to enjoin the defendants from keeping and maintaining the same as such.
The petition alleged that the place was a common nuisance, (l) in that it was kept as a resort where many persons, male and female, were allowed and encouraged to meet, and did meet and assemble, for the purpose of prostitution and illicit sexual intercourse, and that the building on the premises was a brothel and bawdyhouse; (2) the petition also alleged that the place was kept as a rеsort where many persons, male and female, were permitted-and encouraged to assemblе, and did assemble, for the unlawful purpose of drinking intoxicating liquors as a beverage.
A demurrer was interposed by the defendants, and was sustained as to the first cause of action and overruled as to the second. The county attorney elected to stand upon his petition, and brings the case here for reviеw as to that portion- of the ruling adverse to the state.-
The defendants move to dismiss the appeаl for the want of jurisdiction in this court to entertain the same. The, statute now in force, section 5019 of the Gеneral Statutes of 1901, was- enacted in 1901, and
Since there is nothing to indicate the contrary, the act of 1901 must be рresumed to have been adopted with this interpretation in view and to have been a legislative аpproval of it.
The case at bar, being a suit for the injunction of a common nuisance, and involving nо money nor anything to which a money valuation could apply, is not within the limitation. The appeal liеs, and the motion to dismiss is denied.
The only remaining question is whether a bawdy-house is a. common nuisance. If so, thе court has erred; if not, its decision must be sustained.
Section 4700 of the General Statutes of 1901 authorizes an injunction against a'common nuisance in a suit brought by the county attorney in the name of the state. Public nuisance and common nuisance are entirely synonymous terms. At common law a bawdyhouse, in the common sеnse of the term, is a species of disorderly house and is indictable as a nuisance. (Henson v. State,
Our statute does not define the meaning of “common nuisance,” and hence these words, hаving acquired “a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law, shall be construed according to such peculiar and appropriate meaning.” (Gen. Stat. 1901, § 7342.)
“A public or common nuisance is such an inconvenience or troublesome offense as annoys the whole community in general and not merely some particular person. It produces no special injury to one more than another of the peоple.” (2 Bouv. Law Die. 524.)
“A public nuisance is one that injures the citizens generally who may be so circumstanced as to come within its influence. The test as to whether a nuisance is a public nuisance or not is nоt the number of persons annoyed, but the possibility of annoyance to the public by the invasion of its rights.” (6 Words & Phrases Jud. Def. 5804.)
As tо this cause of action the petition is not lacking in a revolting detail of facts, which the demurrer admits to be true, to establish, as a proposition of law, that the building as maintained and conducted was a common nuisance. It is, therefore, unnecessary here to determine whether the bare allegatiоn that a house is maintained as a bawdyhouse and brothel is sufficient to sustain a charge that it is a commоn nuisance.
The demurrer to this cause of action set forth in the petition should have been overruled. The order sustaining the demurrer is reversed and the case is remanded, with instructions to proceed in accordance with the views herein expressed.