John Wallis, C.J.

1. In Satku Valadhadir Sausare v. Ibraim Aga Valad Mirza Aga (1877) I.L.R. 2 B. 457 the facts are not set out in the report, and all that appears is that the plaint averred obstruction of the plaintiffs in their use of the highway by the defendants, and also an order of the Magistrate under Section 518 (now Section 144) of the Code of Criminal Procedure prohibiting the plaintiffs from using the highway in the particular way to which the defendants took objection. Sir Michael Westropp, C.J., after reviewing the English decisions as to the right of an individual member of the public to maintain an action for the obstruction of a public thoroughfare and showing that no such action would he without proof of special damage, dismissed the plaintiffs suit on that ground. The obstruction in the English cases cited consisted of interference with the surface of the highway which interfered with the right of the public to pass and repass freely. The same principle would, no doubt, apply if the defendants obstructed the public by assembling on the highway for their own purposes, as for the purpose of holding a market. That also would be a public nuisance and the rule a