THE TYRANNY OF NEIGHBUORLINESS

As against the thief who steals and is tried for the crime there is the more dangerous one who into intrudes on our privacy. Man is a social animal and visits and a visited by his fellow beings just for social pleasantness. These visits bring new and scandals which delight every one.

This neighbor-dogma is particularly held by country people who grow informal with their neighbors without caring to find out whether their intrusion is palatable to the host. In the city where exclusiveness is quite common a person is very often visited by government officials for inspections, demands and the filling up the forms. Moreover, there are visits in the name of business, politics or charity resulting in the thefts of time and energy.

There are, also, encroachments on one’s private amenities. Municipal buildings come up without anyone caring for the opinions or tastes of the person residing in the locality. Legal action is possible in case a glue-factory is planted next door to a tea-garden but there is no remedy if the view from one’s rural sitting-room is spoilt by the erection of a gas-works. No action, again, is possible if a person raises a tall structure in his garden even if it results in the destruction of his neighbor’s privacy unless, of course, this structure proves noisy, offensive or menacing.

A neighbor can be used for stealing flowers from a garden but there is no remedy if he steals the affections of his neighbor’s cat by giving it richer food. Actions have been brought for stealing sketches of new models but one is helpless if one’s mode of dressing is copied. Copyright is protected but one can tell another’s favorite story or joke as one’s own. Infringement of patent is punishable but not the theft of the scheme of one’s interior decoration. These are cases where privacy and individual tastes are been constantly robbed without providing any remedy to the owners.