Who Owns a View?

On March 5th, the Nantucket police responded to a call about unauthorized tree cutting.

About much more than a tree, the case relates to whether our property rights include a view.

Water Views

On the island of Nantucket, views of the harbor, the sound, and the ocean bring beauty, pleasure, and dollars. The problem is that some people own property with those views while their neighbors do not. The “unauthorized tree cutter” was trying to get “sweeping water views” from his own property by clearing what had been blocking him on his neighbor’s land. Not only could he boost his pleasure but also, he could increase the value of his home. Instead, he was charged with vandalizing property, destroying trees, and trespassing.

At econlife, in 2011, we wrote about Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s problem with the two giant redwoods that blocked his view of San Francisco Bay. After hiring a tree attorney and initiating a lawsuit, Mr. Ellison convinced his neighbor to trim the redwoods.

Surely between now and 2011 and Nantucket and San Francisco, there have been thousands of people with a similar conflict. Knowing that property rights are the foundation of a market economy, they also are debating who “owns” the view.

Our Bottom Line: Conflicting Property Rights

Central to a market economy, property rights need to be dependable, predictable and preservable. Frequently though they are debatable. At econlife, we asked if the airplane noise above a home took place on the farmers’ property when it killed his chickens. We also wondered if pencil skyscrapers could block the sunlight with their shadows on NYC streets and in Central Park.

The “ancient lights” doctrine, from English common law, said that a property owner could prevent a neighbor from erecting a structure that blocked the sunlight they had been enjoying. Proclaiming that development superseded such broad property rights, U.S. courts ignored the “ancient lights.” Still though, a group of New Yorkers was able to limit the shadow that the (then) new Time Warner Center would have cast across Central Park each day.

Below, the Time Warner protesters created their own shadows:

My sources and more: Thanks to Todd for inspiring today’s post. After he suggested the Nantucket article, I went back to WSJ’s tale of the Ellison tree spat and its resolution. Then, at econlife, we asked who owns the air here and here.