200 ROBERT W. DE FOREST 



The reasons for tenement regulation may be roughly 

 classed as follows — precise classification is impossible, as it is 

 seldom that any particular regulation is attributable solely to 

 a single reason : 



The protection of property rights in adjacent property. 

 Such is the reason for regulations requiring fireproof construc- 

 tion in whole or in part. Such is the chief reason for limita- 

 tions of height and for leaving an obligatory open space at 

 the rear of each house so as to preserve thorough ventilation 

 for the block. The protection of neighbors and the community 

 from unsanitary conditions by which they might be affected, 

 or which might breed contagion. Under this class falls the 

 great body of sanitary law and tenement house regulation of a 

 sanitary kind. That all legislation which falls within these 

 classes can be justified as a proper restraint on the liberty and 

 property rights of some, in order to protect and preserve the 

 property rights and liberty of others, is clear. 



There is another and increasing class of regulations in- 

 tended to protect the life and health of those who can not, it is 

 supposed, protect themselves by any means within their con- 

 trol. Fire escapes, which are almost universally required by 

 law in nonfireproof tenement houses, belong to this class. 

 There is no such regulation for private houses, and there is 

 usually no such requirement for two-family houses. The 

 reason for the fire escape in tenements and hotels must rest 

 either on the supposed inability of the inmates to protect them- 

 selves, as the owner of a private house can protect himself and 

 his family, or else from the greater number of persons exposed 

 to risk. Of such class also is the law providing that there be a 

 separate water closet for each apartment, as in New York, or 

 for every two families, as in Detroit and elsewhere, and that 

 lights be kept burning in public halls at night. No such regu- 

 lations exist for private houses. They can be only justified in 

 tenement houses on the theory that the tenants in such houses 

 must live in them, can not control their maintenance in these 

 particulars, and are entitled to the protection of affirmative 

 law for these necessities or conveniences. It may be an- 

 swered that they need not rent rooms in houses not furnished 

 with separate water closets, and the halls of which are not kept 



