Definition
Obstruction carries two distinct legal lives, and a researcher who conflates them will misread sources across centuries.
1. Property law sense: An injury to an incorporeal hereditament — that is, an interference with an easement, right of way, profit à prendre, or similar non-possessory right in land. In this sense obstruction is the proper term of art when someone physically or legally impedes the exercise of a right attached to land rather than the land itself. The parallel term disturbance is used interchangeably in many authorities.
2. Criminal and public law sense: Any act that impedes or hinders the functioning of a legal process, public right, or governmental function. This branch of the concept has expanded dramatically in the modern period. Obstruction of justice — the core modern application — covers a wide range of conduct including interfering with witnesses, tampering with evidence, corrupting legal proceedings, and impeding law enforcement officers in the performance of their duties. Obstruction of a public highway or navigable waterway represents a separate, older strand targeting interference with public easements and rights of passage.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of obstructing, or state of being obstructed; something which obstructs or impedes, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of obstructing; that which obstructs or impedes; an obstacle; an impediment; a hindrance. Also, poetically, death — the arrest of the vital functions.
The gap matters for research. In ordinary English, obstruction is neutral as to intent — a fallen tree is an obstruction as readily as a corrupt act. In criminal law, obstruction almost always carries a requirement of purposeful conduct. The intentionality element that common usage treats as optional is typically the heart of the criminal offense. Researchers reading older sources that use obstruction in its general sense should not assume a criminal intent requirement is embedded in the term.
Common Confusion
Obstruction, disturbance, and infringement occupy adjacent but distinct territory in property law. Obstruction and disturbance are near-synonyms when applied to easements and incorporeal hereditaments — historical sources use them interchangeably, and both Rapalje & Lawrence and Black's treat them as alternative terms. Infringement, by contrast, is the proper word for injuries to patent rights or copyright and should not be substituted for obstruction in a property or easement context. Researchers encountering obstruction in pre-twentieth-century property cases should confirm whether the court means physical blockage of a right of way (the most common use) or is using the term loosely to describe any interference with a non-possessory right.
In criminal law, obstruction is sometimes confused with contempt. Both can address interference with court proceedings, but contempt is the court's own disciplinary mechanism and attaches to conduct in or directly related to judicial proceedings. Obstruction of justice is a statutory offense with broader reach, extending to interference with investigations and proceedings well before any court is formally involved.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Obstruction of justice: The broadest and most litigated modern form. In federal practice, codified across a cluster of statutes. Covers witness tampering, evidence destruction, interference with officers and court processes, and related conduct.
Obstruction of a public highway or right of way: A public nuisance variant. Among the oldest applications of the term. Any unauthorized physical impediment to a public road, navigable waterway, or public easement.
Obstruction of an easement or incorporeal hereditament: The property law sense. The act that gives rise to a civil action by the holder of the right.
Obstruction of a law enforcement officer: A distinct criminal offense in most jurisdictions, sometimes charged separately from general obstruction of justice. Focuses specifically on impeding an officer in the performance of official duties.
Why It Matters in Research
The term's dual lineage — property law on one side, criminal and public law on the other — creates significant index and digest traps. In nineteenth-century digests and encyclopedias, obstruction entries frequently mix highway cases, easement cases, and the nascent criminal doctrine without clear separation. A researcher pulling obstruction headnotes from that period may find cases on blocked ditches filed alongside early contempt-adjacent criminal charges.
The criminal law meaning has inflated substantially in the twentieth century, particularly in federal practice, where the obstruction statutes (18 U.S.C. §§ 1501–1521) now cover a range of conduct that earlier generations would have addressed through contempt or not at all. Researchers tracing the evolution of federal obstruction doctrine should treat pre-New Deal sources as a different doctrinal universe.
Jurisdictional variation in the criminal sense is significant. State obstruction statutes differ sharply from the federal model and from each other — some require a pending proceeding, some extend to investigations, and the treatment of passive non-cooperation versus active interference varies widely.
In property research, the term's synonym relationship with disturbance means that searches on only one term will miss relevant authority. Index both terms when researching easement interference cases.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary and Rapalje & Lawrence are in close agreement on the core property law definition, both identifying obstruction as the word properly descriptive of an injury to an incorporeal hereditament, with disturbance as an acceptable alternative. Both sources contrast obstruction with infringement — the latter reserved for patent and copyright injuries — reflecting a careful taxonomy that later usage has blurred.
What these historical dictionaries largely omit is the criminal law dimension that would come to dominate the term's legal meaning. Their silence on obstruction of justice is itself historically informative: the concept existed in those periods primarily through contempt doctrine, and the modern federal statutory scheme had not yet developed. Researchers relying solely on the historical dictionaries for any criminal law research involving obstruction will find the coverage incomplete and should supplement with twentieth-century sources.
Jurisdictional Note
Federal obstruction of justice law (18 U.S.C. §§ 1501–1521) is more expansive than most state analogs, covering a broader range of proceedings and actors. Several states limit obstruction offenses to conduct directed at judicial proceedings and do not extend liability to the investigative phase. The property law meaning of obstruction is largely uniform across common-law jurisdictions, though the remedies available and the procedural vehicles for asserting them vary.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
Obstruction of Justice (18 USC 1501-1521), The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia
Resisting Arrest and Obstruction of Law Enforcement, The Law Mind Criminal Law Encyclopedia