AIR. That fluid transparent substance which surrounds our globe.
2. No property can be had in the air it belongs equally to all men,
being indispensable to their existence. To poison or materially to change
the air, to the annoyance of the public, is a nuisance. Cro. Cr. 610; 2 Ld.
Raym 1163; I Burr. 333; 1 Str. 686 Hawk. B. 1, c. 75, s. 10; Dane's Ab.
Index h.t. But this must be understood with this qualification, that no one
has a right to use the air over another man's land, in such a manner as to
be injurious to him. See 4 Campb. 219; Bowy. Mod. Civ. Law, 62; 4 Bouv.
Inst. n. 36 1; Grot. Droit de la Guerre et de la Paix, liv. 2, c. 2, Sec. 3,
note, 3 et 4.
3. It is the right of the proprietor of an estate to enjoy the light
and air that will come to him, and, in general, no one has a right to
deprive him of them; but sometimes in building, a man opens windows over his
neighbor's ground, and the latter, desirous of building on his own ground,
necessarily stops the windows already built, and deprives the first builder
of light and air; this he has the right to do, unless the windows are
ancient lights, (q.v.) or the proprietor has acquired a right by grant or
prescription to have such windows open. See Crabb on R. P. Sec. 444 to 479
and Plan. Vide Nuisance.