Public Nuisance

'''Public Nuisance''' 
An unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public, such as a condition dangerous to health, offensive to community moral standards, or unlawfully obstructing the public in the free use of public property. 
(''Black's Law Dictionary'' 8th ed., © 2004 West Publishing)


The Supreme Court of Rhode Island concluded that "limitations on common law public nuisance make public nuisance inapplicable to 'stream of commerce' cases which must be governed by product liability law." The Court also found that the "[D]efendants' conduct does not constitute a public nuisance as that term has been understood in Anglo-American Law[.]"- ''State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association Inc., et al at 39.''