Commonwealth v. Kidder
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment for a nuisance at common law; averring that on January 1, 1869, in Winthrop, near certain public highways and private dwelling-houses, the defendants set up and maintained certain furnaces, boilers, stills, retorts and other apparatus for refining and preparing for sale and use petroleum and other oils, at their manufactory, and on that day and divers other days between it and the day of the finding of the indictment, which was in March 1870, unlawfully and…
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Indictment for a nuisance at common law; averring that on January 1, 1869, in Winthrop, near certain public highways and private dwelling-houses, the defendants set up and maintained certain furnaces, boilers, stills, retorts and other apparatus for refining and preparing for sale and use petroleum and other oils, at their manufactory, and on that day and divers other days between it and the day of the finding of the indictment, which was in March 1870, unlawfully and injuriously caused to be heated and boiled in said boilers and other vessels and apparatus large quantities of petroleum and…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
The only ground of defence, upon which the defendants rely, is that they are protected against this indictment by the Sts. of 1866, e. 285, and 1869, c. 152. In order to ascertain the intention of the legislature in enacting these statutes, it is important to take into consideration not only the provisions of the statutes themselves, but also the law as it stood before their pas*192sage, and the rule that statutes in derogation of the common lay? are to be construed strictly.
A nuisance at common law may consist in the keeping or manufacture of gunpowder, naphtha, or other explosive or inflammable…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- People v. SandsNew York Supreme Court · 1806
3Cited by16 opinions
- Baltimore & Potomac Railroad v. Fifth Baptist ChurchSupreme Court of the United States · 1883
- Bohan v. Port Jervis Gaslight Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1890
- Sawyer v. DavisMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1884
- Flynn v. ButlerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1905
- Pennoyer v. AllenWisconsin Supreme Court · 1883
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