Gillet v. . Jones
Supreme Court of North Carolina
This was a petition filed in the County Court of Jones, at September Term, 1829, to recover damages caused by a grist-mill, erected and occupied by the defendant.
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This was a petition filed in the County Court of Jones, at September Term, 1829, to recover damages caused by a grist-mill, erected and occupied by the defendant. The petition alleged the plaintiff to be the owner of a tract of land in fee, on which was situate the dwelling house occupied by himself and family; that on a stream which ran through his land, the defendant erected his mill and dam, by which the water was thrown back upon the plaintiff’s land near his dwelling house, thereby covering a portion of his cleared ground and rendering it unfit for cultivation ; and also generating a…
1Opinion of the Court
Ruffix, Chief Justice,
after stating the case, proceeded: —It is here insisted for the defendant, that the act of 1809 (Rev. ch. 773), extends only to the direct damage to the soil overflowed; and that any other consequential injury is without redress in this method of proceeding.
By the common law, every consequential hindrance or disturbance in the enjoyment of that in which a man has right — per quod uti non possit — was deemed an injury, for which an action on the case lay. The estate may be rendered less valuable by throwing a water course back upon it, either in rendering the soil less…
2Cited by7 opinions
- Jones v. Commissioners of Franklin CountySupreme Court of North Carolina · 1902
- Person v. . RobertsSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1912
- Whitaker v. GilliamSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1899
- Jones v. . CommissionersSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1902
- Mumford v. . TerrySupreme Court of North Carolina · 1816
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