State v. Yopp, 2 SE 458, 97 NC 477 (N.C. 1887).  The defendant was charged with unlawfully, willfully, etc. using and riding a bicycle on the "Willmington and Coast Turnpike," a road belonging to an incorporated company by that name, without the permission of the superintendant thereof.  The bicyclist was found guilty and appealed.  The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the conviction.  From the court's opinion:  "The power of government, commonly called the 'police power,' to regulate the conduct of individuals in the exercise of their personal rights, and the use of property, with the view to secure the just enjoyment of right of whatever nature of every individual, to promote the public convenience, safety, and common good, is essential and as well very great and comprehensive in its nature and extent.  It is founded very largely on the maxim, sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas ['use your own property so as not to injure that of another,' The Attorney's Pocket Dictionary], and also, to some extent, that other maxim of public policy, salus populi suprema lex ['the welfare of the people is the supreme law,' The Attorney's Pocket Dictionary], and it is of almost universal application in regulating the interests of society within the jurisdiction of the state.  It is too well settled to admit of serious question that every person is subject to it in his person and property.  And, however absolute his rights to and ownership of property may be, he holds it subject to the implied obligation that he will use it in such [a] way as not to prevent others from having their property, and enjoying the just use and benefit of it, and as will not destroy, abridge, or injure the rights of the public.  The legislature, in the exercise of this power, may, subject to any constitutional limitations, prescribe just and reasonable regulations and restraints, in order to secure such important ends, and enforce them by such proper penalties and other means as it may deem expedient and wise.

"...  It is clear that the legislature has complete power to provide proper and reasonable police regulations, and to amend or alter them from time to time, in respect to the highways of the state, and persons going upon and over them with their vehicles, horses, and other motive power, with a view to protect the roads, and the safety and comfort of passengers going over them.  The power is constantly exercised, and it is prudent and necessary to do so, as common experience everywhere proves.  Many persons are more or less selfish, and seek their own advantage, and consult their own convenience, fancy, or pleasure, without proper regard for the like rights of others, sometimes at their expense, and hence legal restraints and regulations are necessary.

"As we have seen, no man has the right, in the use of his own property of whatever nature, to so use it as to injure another in the just use of his, or the exercise of his personal rights.  Hence there is no reason why [an] owner of a particular kind of vehicle, which, because of its peculiar form or appearance, or from the unusual manner of its use, frightens horses, or otherwise imperils passengers over the road, or their property properly there, shall not be allowed to use such vehicle on the road.  He has no right to use it to the prejudice or injury of others who are lawfully exercising their rights in the use of it.

"If it be said, when shall one person be restrained in doing as he will with his own property, --from going, for example, on the highway with his own vehicle, of whatever kind?  [T]he answer is, whenever, in the ordinary lawful course of things in that connection, he would, by the use of his property,--his vehicle, in the case suggested,--interfere materially in any respect with another in the ordinary, lawful use of his property or rights.  He might be restrained in one place, and not in another.  He might go upon one highway, and not upon another.  He might go upon one highway at one time, and not at another.  He might be restrained under one class of circumstances, and not under another; in all such cases the restraint depending on different attendant circumstances, as, perhaps, numbers and kinds of persons passing over the highway, the kinds of places, the character and purposes of the highway, its use at one time as different from the same at another, and the like considerations.  The person thus restrained might be affected adversely in the use of his property, disappointed in his cherished wishes, in the indulgence of his fancy, in taking pleasure or recreation, perhaps, as to his substantial interests, but these must all give way to the extent necessary to allow others to have and enjoy their lawful rights, however these may arise; and, generally, it is for the legislative authority, directly or indirectly, to prescribe such regulations and restraints.

"In the case before us the statute ... forbids every person 'to use upon the road of said company a bicycle, or tricycle, or other non-horse vehicle, without the express permission of the superintendant of said road,' etc.  The purpose of this statutory provision is not to destroy the defendant's property, his bicycle, or to deprive him of the use of it in a way not injurious to others; but to prevent him from using it on a particular road ... at a particular time or season, when it would, by reason of its peculiar shape and the unusual manner of using it as a means of locomotion, prove injurious to others, particularly women and children constantly passing and repassing in great numbers over the particular road mentioned, in carriages and other ordinary vehicles drawn by horses.

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