Castle doctrine goes up in smoke

Guambat's burrow is his castle. Obviously then, not all castles are created equally.

But, for eons, we have flattered ourselves into believing that our homes are our castles, and from this the castle doctrine came into being, and you can defend it to the death of the invader. Or yourself. Whichever comes first.

In America, where we proudly roar, Don't Tread On Me, practically the whole world has become our castle, with the notion we have the right of a bull elephant to Stand My Ground.

So, it is fearfully reported here that the castle doctrine's foundations are being eroded. Indeed, there is already smoke in the basement.

Judge says man can't smoke in his own home due to neighbor's 2nd-hand smoke concerns

The Washington, D.C., home in which Edwin Gray lives has been owned by his family for 50 years.

But that doesn’t mean he can smoke there. Responding to a lawsuit by a new neighbor concerned about second-hand smoke, a D.C. Superior Court judge has issued a temporary order requiring Gray, and anyone else who might otherwise smoke at his home, to do so outside, reports WJLA.

“We were floored,” Gray’s sister, Mozella Johnson, told the station, adding: “If this judge has done this, who will be next? What other neighbor will be next?”

The plaintiffs who brought the private nuisance case against Gray are a couple with a young child and a baby on the way. They say they are concerned about the adverse health effects of the smoke that they believe is seeping into their home through holes in the shared basement wall.

Although the castle doctrine seems to uphold the right to smoke other folk who wander in through the portal uninvited, you can no longer smoke yourself, in your own castle.

Guambat doesn't smoke, except out of his ears, and his ears are smoking with the thought that strict liability is now being applied to someone strictly staying in their own home. The smoker here did not create the porous walls, nor intend to harm the neighbors, and shouldn't the neighbor have some obligation to defend his own castle by setting up some kind of moat against the smoke?

As Super Nanny says to the nanny who came up with this decision, "this is unasseptible".