Odger's English Common Law

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NUISANCES. 241
usually it is initiated by some person aggrieved, called "the
relator," who must obtain the sanction of the Attorney-
General before he issues his writ. If the Attorney- General
is simply proceeding on behalf of the public, the result of
a successful information is an injunction to restrain the
continuance of the nuisance. 1 But the relator, if there is one,
can in some cases also obtain damages. No injunction will
be granted if the nuisance was abated before the hearing of
the action. 2
(iii.) A public nuisance may also give rise to civil proceed-
ings at the suit of a private individual, if he be prejudiced
by it in a different manner from the rest of the public. Where
that which is a public nuisance inflicts on an individual
some special or particular damage, he has a private remedy ;
he can claim damages and an injunction in a civil action.
The rights of the public must be vindicated by a prosecu-
tion, not by a private action ; else every one of the public
could sue. Even where one person suffers inconvenience in
common with the rest of the public, and from the circum-
stances in which he happens to be placed, suffers that incon-
venience more frequently or more severely than others, he
will not, on that account alone, have a separate right of
action. It is only where he sustains some special damage,
differing in kind or degree from that whicli others suffer,
that he has a personal remedy ; he can bring an action to
recover compensation for the particular damage which he has
personally sustained. 8
Throughout the remainder of this chapter we shall deal
only with criminal proceedings brought in respect of a public
nuisance. In such proceedings the prosecution must first
prove the existence of a public nuisance, and next that this
state of things was created, or improperly permitted to con-
tinue, through some act or omission on the part of the
defendant or of his servants. It is not necessary for the
prosecution to prove that the defendant intended to cause
1 Att.-Qen. v. Shrewsbury Bridge Co. (1882), 21 Ch. D. 752.
2 Att.-Gen. v. Squire (1907), 5 L. G. R. 99.
8 See post, p. 499.
B.C.L. 16