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From: wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA
Newsgroups: mod.politics
Subject: Property rights & neighbors
Message-ID: <12232431095.54.MCGREW@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Wed, 20-Aug-86 20:30:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: RED.12232431095.54.MCGREW
Posted: Wed Aug 20 20:30:53 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Aug-86 04:07:27 EDT
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Lets consider this issue with a more direct and explicit example than
the "next door house looking like a trash heap", which is pretty
subjective and hard to quantify in monetary terms.

Postulate this theoretical example: In a midwest seasonal climate, I
live in a house on a city block. My next-door neighbor, to the south
of me, has a large deciduous tree in his back yard. That tree provides
shade to *my* house in the summer, reducing my cooling bills by a
measurable and definite amount, and sheds its leaves in the winter,
permitting solar gain to reduce my heating bills. Thus I gain a net
benefit from this tree, which is not mine, not on my property, and
which I expend no effort to maintain (the neighbor rakes the leaves
and the ones that come over to my property are too few to consider).
The configuration of the lots and buildings does not allow me to plant
my own tree to my south; I can only get such a benefit from a tree on
my neighbor's property.

The presence of this tree does raise the property value of my house,
but that is not something that can be well-measured when the house is
not for sale. Let us consider only the yearly measurable energy-cost
savings.

Suppose my neighbor decides to cut this tree, not from any particular
need (it is not diseased or damaged) but just because he wants it
down; lets say he merely prefers a lawn with no tree in the middle.

What "rights", if any, do I have in this situation? My neighbor's
action on his own property with regard to his own goods (he owns the
tree) will have a specific financial impact upon me. His cutting down
that tree will cost me $X per year out-of-pocket in greater energy
costs. Am I entitled to claim that from him? To sue him for
compensation?

How would this situation be treated by the various political systems
advocated by the discussion participants on this net?

What, if anything, would be different if the effect were similar in
form but greater in consequence? For example, my neighbor builds a
large building on his property that cuts off all sunlight from
reaching my land most of the day, and this destroys my
greenhouse-gardening business, which is my livelihood? Or he builds or
grows something that cuts off my line-of-sight to a geosynchronous
satellite, which I require to conduct my business?

Would the situation be different if I was there first, or if he was
there first? Do I have any "rights" that the surrounding property
remain unchanged, if I was there first (say, living on property passed
down through my family, while the neighboring land was just bought by
someone who decides to change it as described above). Or the reverse
-- let's say I bought this property because the surroundings were
arranged in a pleasing fashion, and those long-time property owners
made these changes that affected me after I moved in? Do property
rights "grow" stronger with length of residence or tenancy? (Some
legal rights DO change this way -- the length of a live-in
relationship can make it a common-law marriage in some states, right?)

Comments on theoretical rights vs. practical or legal rights would
also be welcomed in this context.

Regards,
Will Martin
wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA   (on USENET try ...!seismo!wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA)
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