trespass

trespass
    n 1: a wrongful interference with the possession of property
         (personal property as well as realty), or the action
         instituted to recover damages
    2: entry to another's property without right or permission [syn:
       {trespass}, {encroachment}, {violation}, {intrusion},
       {usurpation}]
    v 1: enter unlawfully on someone's property; "Don't trespass on
         my land!" [syn: {trespass}, {intrude}]
    2: make excessive use of; "You are taking advantage of my good
       will!"; "She is trespassing upon my privacy" [syn:
       {trespass}, {take advantage}]
    3: break the law
    4: commit a sin; violate a law of God or a moral law [syn:
       {sin}, {transgress}, {trespass}]
    5: pass beyond (limits or boundaries) [syn: {transgress},
       {trespass}, {overstep}]
    

Trespass \Tres"pass\, n. [OF. trespas, F. tr['e]pas death. See
   {Trespass}, v.]
   1. Any injury or offence done to another.
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            I you forgive all wholly this trespass. --Chaucer.
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            If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
            your Father forgive your trespasses.  --Matt. vi.
                                                  15.
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   2. Any voluntary transgression of the moral law; any
      violation of a known rule of duty; sin.
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            The fatal trespass done by Eve.       --Milton.
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            You . . . who were dead in trespasses and sins.
                                                  --Eph. if. 1.
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   3. (Law)
      (a) An unlawful act committed with force and violence (vi
          et armis) on the person, property, or relative rights
          of another.
      (b) An action for injuries accompanied with force.
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   {Trespass offering} (Jewish Antiq.), an offering in expiation
      of a trespass.

   {Trespass on the case}. (Law) See {Action on the case}, under
      {Case}.
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   Syn: Offense; breach; infringement; transgression;
        misdemeanor; misdeed.
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Trespass \Tres"pass\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Trespassed}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Trespassing}.] [{OF}. trespasser to go across or
   over, transgress, F. tr['e]passer to die; pref. tres- (L.
   trans across, over) + passer to pass. See {Pass}, v. i., and
   cf. {Transpass}.]
   1. To pass beyond a limit or boundary; hence, to depart; to
      go. [Obs.]
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            Soon after this, noble Robert de Bruce . . .
            trespassed out of this uncertain world. --Ld.
                                                  Berners.
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   2. (Law) To commit a trespass; esp., to enter unlawfully upon
      the land of another.
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   3. To go too far; to put any one to inconvenience by demand
      or importunity; to intrude; as, to trespass upon the time
      or patience of another.
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   4. To commit any offense, or to do any act that injures or
      annoys another; to violate any rule of rectitude, to the
      injury of another; hence, in a moral sense, to transgress
      voluntarily any divine law or command; to violate any
      known rule of duty; to sin; -- often followed by against.
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            In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more
            against the Lord.                     --2 Chron.
                                                  xxviii. 22.
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TRESPASS torts. An unlawful act committed with violence, ti et armis, to the 
person, property or relative rights of another. Every felony includes a 
trespass, in common parlance, such acts are not in general considered as 
trespasses, yet they subject the offender to an action of trespass after his 
conviction or acquittal. See civil remedy. 
     2. There is another kind of trespass, which is committed without force, 
and is known by the name of trespass on the case. This is not generally 
known by the name of trespass. See Case. 
     3. The following rules characterize the injuries which are denominated 
trespasses, namely: 1. To determine whether an injury is a trespass, due 
regard must be had to the nature of the right affected. A wrong with force 
can only be offered to the absolute rights of personal liberty and security, 
and to those of property corporeal; those of health, reputation and in 
property incorporeal, together with the relative rights of persons, are, 
strictly speaking, incapable of being injured with violence, because the 
subject-matter to which they relate, exists in either case only in idea, and 
is not to be seen or handled. An exception to this rule, however, often 
obtains in the very instance of injuries to the relative rights of persons; 
and wrongs offered to these last are frequently denominated trespasses, that 
is, injuries with force. 
     4.-2. Those wrongs alone are characterized as trespasses the immediate 
consequences of which are injurious to the plaintiff; if the damage 
sustained is a remote consequence of the act, the injury falls under the 
denomination of trespass on the case. 
     5.-3. No act is injurious but that which is unlawful; and therefore, 
where the force applied to the plaintiff's property or person is the act of 
the law itself, it constitutes no cause of complaint. Hamm. N. P. 34; 2 
Phil. Ev. 131; Bac. Abr. h.t.; 15 East R. 614; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. As to 
what will justify a trespass, see Battery. 
    

TRESPASS, remedies. The name of an action, instituted for the recovery of 
damages, for a wrong committed against the plaintiff, with immediate force; 
as an assault and battery against the person; an unlawful entry into his, 
land, and an unlawful injury with direct force to his personal property. It 
does not lie for a mere non-feasance, nor when the matter affected was not 
tangible. 
     2. The subject will be considered with regard, 1. To the injuries for 
which trespass may be sustained. 2. The declaration. 3. The plea. 4. The 
judgment. 
     3.-Sec. 1. This part of the subject will be considered with reference 
to injuries, 1. The person. 2. To personal property. 3. To real property. 4. 
When trespass can or cannot be justified by legal proceedings. 
     4.-1. Trespass is the proper remedy for an assault and battery, 
wounding, imprisonment, and the like, and it also lies for an injury to the 
relative rights when occasioned by force; as, for beating, wounding, and 
imprisoning a wife or servant, by which the plaintiff has sustained a loss. 
9 Co. 113; 10 Co. 130. Vide Parties to actions; Per guod, and 1 Chit. Pr. 
37. 
     5.-2. The action of trespass is the proper remedy for injuries to 
personal property, which may be committed by the several acts of unlawfully 
striking, chasing, if alive, and carrying away to the damage of the 
plaintiff, a personal chattel, 1 Saund. 84, n. 2, 3; F. N. B. 86; Bro. 
Trespass, pl. 407; Toll. Executors, 112; Cro. Jac. 362, of which another is 
the owner and in possession; but a naked possession or right to immediate 
possession, is a sufficient title to support this action. 1 T. R. 480; and 
gee 8. John. R. 432; 7 John. R. 535; 11 John. R. 377; Cro. Jac. 46; 1 Chit. 
Pl. 165. 
     6.-3. Trespass is the proper remedy for the several acts of breaking 
through an enclosure, and coming into contact with any corporeal 
hereditament, of which another is the owner and in possession, and by which 
a damage has ensued. There is an ideal fence, reaching in extent upwards, a 
superficie terrae usque ad caelum, which encircles every man's possessions, 
when he is owner of the surface, and downwards as far as his property 
descends; the entry, therefore, is breaking through this enclosure, and this 
generally constitutes, by itself, a right of action. The plaintiff must be 
the owner, and in possession. 5 East, R. 485; 9 John. R. 61; 12 John. R. 
183; 11 John. R. 385; Id. 140; 3 Hill, R. 26. There must have been some 
injury, however, to entitle the plaintiff to recover, for a man in a balloon 
may legally be said to break the close of the plaintiff, when passing over 
it, as he is wafted by the wind, yet as the owner's possession is not by 
that act incommoded, trespass could not probably be maintained; yet, if any 
part of the machinery were to fall upon the land, the aeronaut could not 
justify an entry into it to remove it, which proves that the act is not 
justifiable. 19 John. 381 But the slightest injury, as treading down the 
grass, is sufficient. Vide 1 Chit. Pl. 173; 2 John, R. 357: 9 John. R. 113, 
377; 2 Mass. R. 127; 4 Mass. R. 266; 4 John. R. 150. 
     7.-4. It is a general rule that when the defendant has acted under 
regular process of a court of competent jurisdiction, or of a single 
magistrate having jurisdiction of the subject-matter, it is a sufficient 
justification to him; but when the court has no jurisdiction and the process 
is wholly void, the defendant cannot justify under it. 
     8. But there are some cases, where an officer will not be justified by 
the warrant or authority of a court, having jurisdiction. These exceptions 
are generally founded on some matter of public policy or convenience; for 
example, when a warrant was issued against a mail carrier, though the 
officer was justified in serving the warrant, he was liable to an indictment 
for detaining such mail carrier under the warrant, for by thus detaining 
him, he was guilty of "willfully obstructing or retarding the passage of the 
mail, or of the driver or carrier," contrary to the provisions of the act of 
congress of 1825, ch. 275, s. 9. 8 Law Rep. 77. See Ambassador; 
Justification. 
     9.-Sec. 2. The declaration should contain a concise statement of the 
injury complained of, whether to the person, personal or real property, and 
it must allege that the injury was committed vi et armis and contra pacem; 
in which particulars it differs from a declaration in case. See Case, 
remedies. 
     10.-Sec. 3. The general issue is not guilty. But as but few matters can 
be given in evidence under this plea, it is proper to plead special matters 
of defence. 
     11.-Sec. 4. The judgment is generally for the damages assessed by the 
jury, and for costs. When the judgment is for the defendant, it is that be 
recover his costs. Vide Irregularity; Regular and Irregular process. Vide, 
generally, Bro. Ab. h.t.; Nelson's Ab. h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Dane's Ab. h.t.; 
Com. Dig. h.t.; Vin. Ab. h.t.; the various American and English Digests, 
h.t.; 2 Phil. Ev. 131; Ham. N. P. 33 to 265; Chit. Pr. Index, h.t.; Rose. 
Civ. Ev. h.t.; Stark. Ev. h.t.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t. 
    

194 Moby Thesaurus words for "trespass":
      adopt, adoption, advance upon, appropriate, appropriation,
      arrogate, arrogation, assume, assumption, atrocity, bad faith,
      barge in, breach, breach of contract, breach of faith,
      breach of law, breach of privilege, breach of promise,
      breach of trust, breach the law, break, break bounds, break in,
      break in upon, break the law, breaking, burst in, butt in,
      charge in, circumvent the law, come between, commit a crime,
      commit sin, contravene, contravention, crash, crash in,
      crash the gates, creep in, crime, crime against humanity, crowd in,
      cut in, deadly sin, defy, delinquency, dereliction, deviate,
      disobey the law, disregard the law, do amiss, do violence to,
      do wrong, do wrong by, edge in, elbow in, encroach, encroachment,
      enormity, enter, entrance, entrench, entrenchment, err, error,
      evil, failure, fault, felony, flout, foist in, genocide,
      go too far, guilty act, heavy sin, horn in, impinge, impingement,
      impose, impose on, impose upon, imposition, impropriety, incursion,
      indiscretion, inexpiable sin, infiltrate, infiltration, influx,
      infract, infraction, infringe, infringement, iniquity, injection,
      injury, injustice, inroad, insinuate, insinuation, interfere,
      interference, interjection, interlope, interloping, intermeddle,
      interpose, interposition, interposure, interruption, intervene,
      intervention, intrude, intrusion, invade, invasion, irrupt,
      irruption, know no bounds, lapse, lawbreaking, make an inroad,
      malefaction, malfeasance, malum, minor wrong, misdeed, misdemeanor,
      misfeasance, mortal sin, nonfeasance, obtrude, obtrusion, offend,
      offense, omission, outrage, overstep, overstep the bounds,
      overstepping, peccadillo, peccancy, penetrate, pierce, play God,
      playing God, press in, pretend to, probe, push in, put on,
      put upon, rush in, seize, seizure, set at defiance, set at naught,
      set naught by, sin, sin of commission, sin of omission, sinful act,
      slink in, slip, slip in, smash in, sneak in, squeeze in, steal in,
      storm in, take over, throng in, thrust in, tort, trample on,
      trample underfoot, trample upon, transgress, transgression, trench,
      trespassing, trip, unlawful entry, unutterable sin, usurp,
      usurpation, venial sin, violate, violate the law, violation,
      violation of law, work in, worm in, wrong