THE  ABATEMENT  OF  NUISANCES.  143

Management  Act,  1855,^  that  a  resolution  of  the  duly
appointed  public  health  committee  was  sufficient  without
the  previous  approval  of  the  vestry.  ^  An  exception  to
this  procedure  is  found  in  the  case  where  the  inspector
of  nuisances  of  an  urban  district  is  empowered  to  act
on  his  own  initiative  and  deal  with  accumulations  of
offensive  matter.^

The  same  line  of  division  which  separates  the  cases  in
which  a  statutory  notice  is  necessary  from  those  in  which
it  is  not  also  appears  to  separate  those  cases  in  which
the  local  authority  have  the  alternatives  of  themselves
causing  the  work  to  be  done  and  recovering  the  costs  or
of  complaining  to  the  courts  from  those  cases  which  must
go  to  the  courts  for  adjudication,  but  again  there  are
exceptions  which  prevent  a  clearcut  classification.  Local
authorities  are,  however,  chary  of  exercising  the  powers
of  doing  work  and  incurring  expenses  which  may  be  re-
covered with  great  difficulty,  and  in  general  prefer  to
obtain  the  order  of  the  court  to  abate  the  nuisance  and
the  infliction  of  penalties  where  they  are  provided  for.
The  persons  responsible  for  abating  nuisances  are  speci-
fied in  the  various  enactments  designating  the  nuisance.
The  occupier  is  liable  for  keeping  swine  in  a  dwelling-
house  ^ ;  the  owner  in  the  case  of  a  house  without  a  proper
supply  of  water  ^ ;  whilst  in  the  cases  of  defective  drains
and  sanitary  fittings  ^  or  offensive  accumulations,'  notice
may  be  served  upon  the  owner  or  occupier,  but  if  the
local  authority  carry  out  the  work  in  default  the  ex-
penses incurred  thereby  can  only  be  recovered  from  the
owner,  although  in  the  former  case,  where  a  penalty  for
non-compliance   with   the   notice   is   provided   for,    the

^  Section  85.
