72 Iowa 510 | Iowa | 1887
Tbe judgment rendered by tbe district court does not require defendants to remove their building, but enjoins them perpetually from allowing tbe accumulation on their premises of any manure or offensive offal-from tbe animals kept by them thereon, by which the comfortable enjoyment by plaintiff of his premises will be disturbed; and from keeping any animals in their building which would cause unusual noises, to the disturbance of plaintiff and his family in the enjoyment of their home. Although plaintiff did not appeal from the judgment, he insists that it ought to be so. modified by this court as to require the removal of the building; insisting that it is a nuisance $&r se. But we are of the opinion that this relief ought not to be granted. The building in its present location is perhaps not a pleasing object to plaintiff and his family, but it is not necessarily a nuisance. It does not necessarily interfere with the comfortable use or enjoyment of their home; nor is it necessarily offensive to any of the senses. True, it may be used in such manner as to become a nuisance; and so might a dwelling-house or any other building in the same location. But in such case it would be the unlawful use which would cause the nuisance. The building itself, if devoted to a lawful and proper use, would be inoffensive. Defendants have the right to maintain such buildings upon their own premises as they may deem necessary for their comfort and convenience; and, while the law will restrain them as to the manner in which they may use them, it will not prevent them from maintaining them for proper and lawful use. The case in this respect is not within the principle of Cook v. Benson, 62 Iowa, 170.
The injunction is mnch broader than it should have been made. As stated above, defendants are inhibited by it from keeping upon their premises auy domestic animals which would cause unusual noises, whereby plaintiff would be disturbed in the enjoyment of his home. They were also forbidden to allow the accumulation on their premises of any manure or offensive offal, which would have the effect to interfere with the comfortable or convenient use by plaintiff of his premises. That plaintiff is entitled to be protected from the annoyances forbidden by the injunction is certainly true. But a court of equity will interfere by injunction to protect a right, only when there is apparent danger that the right will be invaded. The court will issue its mandate forbidding the doing of a particular act, only when it is shown that the party is about to do that act. And we do not find in the record any evidence of an intention by defendants to keep upon their premises animals of the kind prohibited by the injunction; or to permit the accumulation there of the materials prohibited. The defendants, however, were keeping their hogs in the pen at the time of the trial. The evidence shows that they kept the pen as clean as was possible,
The judgment will be
Modified A.ND Affibmed.