Public nuisance is unreasonable interference with a common public right

Evidence

The institutional framework within the executive branch of the federal government for enforcing environmental law illustrates the difference in emphasis and theoretical foundation. The EPA is the federal agency primarily responsible for the administration of the federal government’s pollution control programs. The most apt historical analogue to EPA regulation is found generally in tort law and more specifically in governmental regulation of public or private nuisances. A “public nuisance” is an “unreasonable interference with a right common to the public” and historically extends to interference with the public’s use of common resources, such as air and water. A “private nuisance” is generally defined as an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of privately owned land. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 781

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clean working definitions of public and private nuisance, load-bearing for understanding EPA’s doctrinal descent from nuisance law.
• XREF: connects to: Federal pollution law rests on Commerce Clause because courts cannot handle modern nuisance cases — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 782