Water rights, principles of torts

Under the Municipal Law no private person can claim a right to foul an ordinary drain by discharging into it what it-was not intended to carry off. Where the defendant, the owner of a shellac factory, discharged into the Municipal drain, which was not constructed or intended for carrying off such stuff, refuse liquid of an offensive character, which interfered with the ordinary comfort of the plaintiff's occupation of property and caused him special injury, it was also held that the plaintiff was entitled to restrain him. Where, moreover' the defendant discharged the liquid into the drain knowing from the condition of the drain and the nature of the liquid that it could not be efficiently carried away, but must stagnate, decompose and create a nuisance, it was held, that the defendant must be responsible for the necessary consequences of his action and was not entitled to shift the responsibility on to the Municipality by contending that, if the latter would improve the drain, there would be no nuisance. It was also held that an injunction for the permanent stoppage of the nuisance was the only effectual remedy in the case. It was further held that substantial damages should be awarded against a defendant, who has persisted in a nuisance causing material injury to the plaintiff.