Lesson # 109 (introduction) • Torts Against Neighbors I was tempted to call this lesson torts against friends. The trouble with that is, after the torts described in this lesson and the several lessons that will IYH follow, the friends are now former friends. They are now unfriendly neighbors. The laws described in these lessons is to keep them as friends. I would say that about a third of all cases that come before our batai din deal with fights by, an among, neighbors. I am proud to say that in all of these situations the neighbors walked out as friends again. We can for the purpose of these lessons define a tort as a civil wrong, that means the government will not punish a person for most of the actions he takes here. However, in the mind of the person who has been damaged or injured or harassed, it is very much akin to a crime. From time to time we shall be discussing openings. By an opening as used here it means there was a solid brick wall that contained no windows or doors, and now the owner of the wall wants to remove some of the bricks and make a space for a window(s) and/or door(s) in the wall. In these lessons Reuven and Shimon are co-owners of a courtyard, which we shall call courtyard A, which lies between the land and building belonging to Reuven and the land and building belonging to Shimon. The entrance into, and egress from each house is by way of the courtyard. Thus they are in constant contact with one another as they cross the courtyard A to get in and out of their homes and when they just sit in courtyard A. Reuven and Shimon, and their families have been friendly neighbors for years. Suddenly Reuven wants to do things in and around the property that will alter the status quo and cause concern to Shimon. As far as Reuven is concerned he wants to do things that he truly believes is in conformity with the ownership of property, such as ownership of his own house and as part owner of the courtyard A. Shimon consults with his rabbi as how he can prevent Reuven from carrying out his proposed changes. In these lessons we shall be discussing three possible torts that Reuven threatens to do. (1) Reuven increasing traffic over courtyard A; (2) Reuven overviewing or even possibly overviewing Shimons property; and (3) Reuven blocking out Shimon's light. (1) I remember many years ago in Flatbush there was the following situation on our block. There were two couples, each consisting of two retired school teachers. We can call them the Cohens and the Levies. They had been good friends for many years and decided to buy a two family house in partnership. The Cohens moved into the upper apartment and the Levies lived downstairs. For several years they remained good friends and they took turns putting out the garbage pails and in shoveling the snow from the sidewalk. After about four years the married daughter of the Cohens was deserted by her husband and the Cohen daughter and her five children (the Cohens grandchildren) moved in with the Cohens in the upstairs apartment. The Cohen grandchildren were noisy and rowdy and the Levies were besides themselves. They wanted to have their golden years in peace and quiet and instead they had running feet over their heads and crying from babies at all hours of the night, and the older children brought friends home and listened to loud music. This is one way to increase traffic in a house. In our example of Reuven and Shimon the result would have been the same if Reuvens daughter and her children moved in and they brought friends all of whom used courtyard A for ingress and egress and just picnicking there. Shimon feels harassed. Generally the increased traffic can come about if Reuven (a) increases the number of residents residing in his house, (b) expands his house, or (c) builds a second floor onto his one-floor house. The halachah is that Reuven may not cause an increase in the number of persons who enter and leave courtyard A from or to his property. If he does so he is guilty of a tort, which I have designated as increasing the traffic. Shimon can take Reuven to Beth Din to have Reuven cease such conduct. (2). The second tort I mentioned above is the tort of overviewing. For example, Shimons teenage daughter Ruth was involved in an accident. Ruth was badly burned and her plastic surgeon has begun the process of redoing much of her face, but this will be a long process. Shimon has engaged a private tutor to teach Ruth her high school studies because she is too sensitive to go to school the way she looks with her face swaddled in bandages. Her doctor tells Ruth that she must have about three hours a day of fresh air. She goes out every day and sits in courtyard A at times that Reuven is not going in or out of his house across the courtyard. The side of Reuvens house that faces courtyard A has no windows so that Ruth is not concerned that she will be seen by Reuven. One afternoon, Reuven tells Shimon that he is going to make an opening for a few windows in the wall of his house that faces courtyard A. Ruth is very unhappy, to say the least. Shimon appeals to Reuven not to make those openings just yet but to wait until Ruth has completed her process of rehabilitation; Reuven refuses. Shimon can take Reuven to Beth Din to enjoin Reuven from building windows into the solid wall or to add windows and/or doors even if some already exist there). (3) The blocking out of Shimon s light can come about by Reuven building a wall or structure that will block out the light from Shimon's windows. There is a concept in halachah that occurs in some legal systems and does not occur in other legal systems, that is, the presumption (right) for continued access to light and, in some cases, to air. Shimon, in his house, which is close to the boundary line separating his property from Reuven's property, has a window that permits light to enter into his house. Reuven, on his side of the boundary line between their properties, decides to build a house at the boundary line that will block out the light that enters into Shimon's window. May Reuven build the house or a wall or any other type of structure that will block out the light from Shimon's window? If it is held that when Shimon built the window he acquired a presumption (right) to continue to have light enter that window, then Reuven cannot block out the light, and if he does block out Shimon's light, he is guilty of a tort against Shimon. Shimon can go to Beth Din to enjoin Reuven from building such wall. In these lessons as in my books, I have translated the halachic measure of a cubit in distance to be 21 inches. Thus, the commonly referred to four cubits are seven feet. With this Introduction, I believe that the subject matter of the following lessons are easier to follow. The subject matter of this lesson is more fully discussed in Vol. V, Ch.154 of A Restatement of Rabbinic Civil Law by E. Quint, published by Jason Aronson, Inc. and on sale at local Judaica bookstores. [The Vayeira Homepage]
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