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Real Property • Natural Rights
PROP#231
Legal Definition
An owner has a right to have their land supported in its natural state by adjoining land. Thus, a landowner is strictly liable if his excavation causes adjoining land to collapse, but if there are buildings on the adjoining land, the landowner is strictly liable only if it is shown that the land would have collapsed in its natural state—otherwise, he is liable only for negligent excavation.
Plain English Explanation
"Lateral support" means there is an obligation to make sure that you don't harm someone's property by digging a hole on yours. For example, imagine you dig a hole in the sand. By removing your sand, you make it more likely that the sand next to your hole will crumble and fall into the hole you dug. You've removed the lateral support. Now imagine if there were a hole dug next to a property with a house on it. The pressure of the house on the ground may cause it to tip into the hole you dug next to it.
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