2 58 F I N E S .
They cannot
be eredted or
fet up in a
clofed lane
without the
eonfent of the
inhabitants.
A perfon
eredting a
building, &c.
in the highway
incurs a
fine for any
perfon
(or nurnbtr of
perfons) it
may o.ccafion
Book L.
and repaffiag, it follows that, provided there be no injury fuftained,
the obftrudHng him in the enjoyment would be vexatious. But
if they be injurious- to the- community, the ufe of them is abominable.
I t is not lawful for an inhabitant of a lane fhut up at one end to
conftruct in it a bath, fet out a fpout, or fo forth, without the con-
fent of the other inhabitants, whether it be injurious to them or other-
wife; for as the lane is, in fa£t, their property, (whence it is that the
right of Shaffa with refpedt to the houfes in it appertains equally to
them all,) their acquiefcence is therefore indifpen-lable. In a public
road, moreover, the converlion to particular ufe is lawful to all men
indifcriminately, excepting only in inftances where it may prove detrimental
; for as it is impoffible to obtain the acquiefcence of every
individual of the community, each is.therefore accounted a proprietor,
left his right of ufe Ihould be altogether defeated:— but it is not fo in
a clofed lane; for as it is practicable to obtain the acquiefcence of all
the inhabitants of the lane, the privileges of partnerihip therefore hold
good, both actually and virtually, with refpedt to each individual of
them.
I f a perfon eredt a building in the public highway, as before mentioned,
and it happen to fall upon and deftroy any one, a fine is due
from the Akilas of the perfon in queftion; becaufe he was the occ'a-
fion of the deftrudtion, and was guilty of a tranfgreffion in having
eredted a building in fuch a fituation ; and a perfon who occafions a
deftrudtion is refponfible where he has in any refpedt tranlgrefled, as
in the cafe of digging a well in the highroad. T h e fame rule alfo obtains
where the building falls upon and thus deftroys a man or an
animal. ,
If a man ftumble over the ruins o f fuch building, and fall upon
another man, and they both die, the perfon who eredted it is refpon-
6 fible
fible for both, and nothing is due from him who fell upon the other;
for as the builder was the primary caufe of the accident, the cafe is
therefore th e ’fame as i f he had ftruck the perfon who fell, and fo
caufed him to fall upon the other, and they had both died in confe-
quence.
If a water-fpout, fet out from a houfe over the public road, fall
upon any perfon, and kill him, an examination muft be made to dif-
cover which part-of the fpout1 it was that hit the perfon; and i f it
appear that he was ftruck by- the end next the houfe from which it
had projedted, no atonement is due from the perfon who fet it up,
becaufe with refpedt to that part he is not a tranfgreflbr, fince he had
| placed that in his own property; but if it appear that the deceafed was
ftruck by the projedting end, the perfon who fet it up is refponfible,
beeaufe. with refpedt to that part he is a tranfgreftor,. as having caufed
1 the. fpout to projedt over the road without any neceflity, fince- he
might tolas;goad: purpofe have fixed it up fo as not to proj.edt over the
road at all.— (It. is-to be obicr-ved that in. this inftance expiation is not
incumbent on the fixer up of the fpout;— nor is he excluded from inheritance;
for he is not the adtual perpetrator, but ftands merely
guilty of homicide by an intertne-diate caufe.)— li, oil the other: hand,
jit appear that the deceafed was ftruck by both ends of the fpout, the
fixer-up is refponfible-for an half of the fine, aud the other half drops ;
111 the fame manner as where a perfon is wounded by another, and
alfo by a lion or tiger, and dies,— in which cafe an h a lf only of the
fineisdue from the wounder. If-it. cannot be difeovered which-part
| of the fpout ftruck the deceafed, in this, cafe alfo an half of the fine is
due,; for the accident may have happened-in either of- two ways, in
0:lc of which the complete fine is due, and in the other nothing, what-
ever! and therefore, in contemplation of both circumftancfis, an h a lf
is impofod.
the deftruc-
tion of.
Cafe o f death
occafioned by
the fall of a
fpout.
I f