[ptolerezort]

‘Coming to the Nuisance' means exactly what it sounds like: if a property owner is using his property so as to cause a nuisance to another property owner, then the property owner who was the earlier to start his particular use is the one who has the right to continue his use. The other property owner, who started his use subsequently on his own property, has lower priority and thus must either yield or quit complaining, since he came to the nuisance and therefore could have stayed away. For example: if a farmer has on his property a feedlot for his animals that is being properly operated [1] and yet which still causes bad odors, a developer who later constructs single-family residences on a nearby parcel can't complain about the feedlot's odor, effluent, or other negative attributes (nor can the purchasers of the residences); if he does, he won't prevail in a nuisance action against the farmer because of Coming to the Nuisance-i.e., because the feedlot was there first. The author is arguing a case for zoning. If the area was properly zoned for farming/manufacturing, the developer would not have been permitted to build the residence, and the problem would not have occurred.

Zoning is an evil because it is a violation of the property owner's right to develop and use his property for purposes of his choosing. It is a gun pointed at the head of anyone who wants to develop his land in any way, before such a person has used any force himself against anyone else-i.e., before he has used his property in any way, constructed anything, or harmed anyone through his use; and, it is being wielded by an entity which has no ownership interest in the property and thus no right to set the terms of its use. The gun lobby uses the same argument of immutable rights.

The author assumes that all cases are as clear-cut as the hog farm. As an attorney, he should know that the real world is more complicated. Before long, as cases come before the court, a body of rules would develop - zoning.