Included in the bundle of rights that go with land ownership are those of occupation, use, and sale. When something is done to affect those rights—making them less valuable to the owner—the common law allows a suit for nuisance. A nuisance is an activity or condition that creates an unreasonable interference with a person’s use and enjoyment of property.

So, for example, a nuisance is created when a service station allows gasoline to leak from its holding tanks onto adjourning residential property19 or when a farmer’s seasonal irrigation system spews waste water onto his neighbors’ farmlands.20 What role does nuisance play in the majority opinion in this case? In the other Lucas opinions?