Citation Numbers: 12 R.I. 499
Judges: DURFEE, C.J.
Filed Date: 2/10/1880
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
The bill avers that the parties are owners of adjoining lots of land, and that the defendant is making an excavation on his land so near the land of the complainants that he is thereby removing its lateral support. It prays for an injunction. The defendant demurs. An owner of land has a right to excavate it, and to carry the excavation as near to the land of the adjoining owner as he can without loosening or throwing it. And ordinarily, even if the land of the adjoining owner is loosened and thrown, the injury is so slight that the remedy at law is entirely adequate. Ordinarily, too, it is only by experiment that it can be known how far the excavation can be safely carried, and therefore a court of equity will not interfere by injunction unless some serious injury is imminent, for otherwise it might be doing a detriment to one party in order to afford an unnecessary protection to the other. Attorney General v. Nichol, 16 Ves. Jun. 338; Cherry v. Stein,
Demurrer sustained.