Tort Law: Analysis of Trespass and Its Relevance in Modern Society

This essay examines the tort law of trespass and its significance in contemporary society, characterized by industrialization, technology, and globalization. It highlights the importance of protecting land, chattels, and individuals from various forms of harm, including pollution from industries, and intentional interference with property. The essay discusses how trespass law provides legal recourse for landowners, protects against environmental damage, and ensures compensation for damages to property, including chattels. It covers examples like noise, air, and water pollution, and the intrusion of livestock, illustrating how the law functions to safeguard property rights and promote a responsible environment for businesses and individuals. The essay also discusses the concept of trespass to chattels, emphasizing the recovery of real damages for impaired value or condition. The conclusion stresses the importance of trespass law in promoting responsible behavior and providing a legal framework for resolving disputes related to property rights and environmental concerns.

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Trespass is a tort law that deals with intentional or direct invasion of a claimant´s interest
in either a person´s goods, land or other property. In contemporary society, trespass is one of the
medieval forms of action. Trespass can be a case which is covers injury which results from
consequential wrong and the wrong was not direct and not forcible. This law is very significant
to contemporary society (a society which is categorized by innovation, technology, and
globalization). For such an industrialized society there needs to be higher protection of the
property as well as protecting the locals from several types of pollution like air pollution, water
pollution and noise pollution which emerges from the industries.
The law of trespass helps in the protection of land and its enjoyment, this is undiminished
importance in contemporary society as people need land and its resources to ensure that they
fully exploit the resources on the land. This law gives the owner of the land equivalent protection
but via the law of torts1. Therefore direct intrusion on the property of another person falls within
the province of the old tort of trespass. The intrusion may succeed minus any evidence of special
damage and is defeated just by a narrowly defined plea like that of imminent necessity or even
by inevitable accident. Other land´s interest nevertheless, gets more qualified protection. Other
wrongs of trespass which are known as the miscellany of wrongs which include the
encroachment of branches, roots to falling tiles and slates from the surrounding roofs are covered
by the amorphous tort of private nuisance.
1 Anderson, Owen L. "Lord Coke, the Restatement, and Modern Subsurface Trespass Law." Tex. J. Oil
Gas & Energy L. 6 (2010): 203.
Atkinson, Katie. "Introduction to the special issue on modeling Popov v. Hayashi." Artificial Intelligence
and Law 20, no. 1 (2012): 1-14.

The amorphous torts of private nuisance also cover some trespass to land like
interference like smells, noise, and pollution. In the contemporary, there might be a lot of noise
pollution which comes from the nearby industries, thus this law will ensure that these industries
install noise absorbers to limit the amount of noise released to the surrounding2. The same can
be for other types of pollution like air pollution and water pollution where this law will force
these companies in contemporary society to treat their waste materials before they release them
to the surrounding. In case a company releases untreated gases or liquid chemicals then the
surroundings have the right to sue the company over the law of trespass under the amorous tort
of private nuisance.
A good example of this was for the case of the metal processing company in Southern
California. Techalloy Company Inc. was sued for allegedly emitting and also improperly
disposing of a volatile organic compound like Trichloroethylene, ammonia, and
Tetrachloethylene into the surrounding air, water and soil which highly possess the health of the
locals into danger. I this case, several companies were termed defendants like South Califonia
chemical Inc., Central wire Inc., Technallot Company Inc. All these companies which were
defendants were charged with repeated violation of the United States Environmental Protection
policies, being reckless and negligent according to the law of trespassing into the land and its
enjoyments.
2 Chianu, Emeka. Law of Trespass to Land and Nuisance. New System Press Limited, 2014.
Claeys, Eric R. "On the property and the'Tort'in Trespass." Chapter for The Philosophical Foundations of
The Law of Torts, John Oberdiek, ed.(Oxford University Press), Forthcoming (2013): 13-29.
Depoorter, Ben. "Fair Trespass." Colum. L. Rev. 111 (2011): 1090.

The protection of individuals in the law of trespass into the land and its enjoyment will
also be charged on the duration of the interference and temporary annoyance. This law will
ensure that the locals live in a well conducive environment even if they are near industries and
processing companies. The industries will have to manage their waste to protect the locals from
pollution. The law of trespass will protect the owner of the land from thieves who might invade
into another person´s land and either steal or destroy the property in that land3. The intrusion can
be through a person or the living property of a person like livestock. If a herd of the livestock of
an individual breaks the fence and enters into another person´s plantation and destroys the crops
then the owner of the land has all rights to sue the owner of the herd of livestock.
The trespass to the animal in contemporary society is also vividly explained in the case of
Fleming v. Atkinson, this case involves a trespass of livestock into the road and the livestock was
hit by the vehicle. In this case, the owner of the cattle was charged for trespassing into the road.
The plaintiff, while driving the car on the hilly road knocked the cattle and his car got damaged.
Contemporary society is a busy society where the vehicle moves up and down transporting raw
material to industries, thus it was not the mistake of the plaintiff when his car hit the cattle
moreover the road is not for the cattle but for the road. The defendant will have to pay for the
damages of the cars4. Even though the law of trespass will protect the locals and owners of the
3 Dorfman, Avihay, and Assaf Jacob. "The fault of trespass." University of Toronto Law Journal 65, no. 1
(2015): 48-98.
Levitt, Adam J., and Nicole E. Negowetti. "Agricultural Market Touching: Modernizing Trespass to
Chattels in Crop Contamination Cases." U. Haw. L. Rev. 38 (2015): 409.
4 Lunney, Mark. "Trespass to land." In The Law of Tort. LexisNexis Butterworths, 2015.

land from pollution and some other damages on land and its enjoyment but this law will be
limited to the effects which are caused by nature like noise from lightning among others.
The law of trespass also protect the owner of the land from interest over the owner´s
property, this is known in law as a protection of chattels. Intentional interference with the owner
´s property is not usual thus receives specialized treatment by some systems. Several cases which
arise from a damaged movable and more modern torts due to negligence will highly apply. The
protection of chattels from trespass will enable the owner of the property to recover from the
actual damage of his property this will help to reduce losses in contemporary society5. For
example, if company A was transporting the raw materials and knock the property of company B
either intentional or no intentional then company B is legible to get compensation and get
recovered from the damage caused by company A.
Another example is, for an instant a truck of company X knocked finished goods packed or
being packed in a stationary truck of company Y and goods get damaged then company Y will
have to be fully compensated by company X thus reducing the chances of losses for company Y.
This will enable the growth and development of companies in such an industrialized society
Mendelson, Danuta. "Historical evolution and modern implications of concepts of consent to, and refusal
of, medical treatment in the law of trespass." Journal of Legal Medicine 17, no. 1 (2016): 1-71.
5 Lunney, Mark. "Trespass to land." In The Law of Tort. LexisNexis Butterworths, 2015.
Mendelson, Danuta. "Historical evolution and modern implications of concepts of consent to, and refusal
of, medical treatment in the law of trespass." Journal of Legal Medicine 17, no. 1 (2016): 1-71.
Merrill, Thomas W. "Trespass, nuisance, and the costs of determining property rights." The Journal of
Legal Studies 14, no. 1 (2015): 13-48.

(contemporary society). The law of trespass will highly help the contemporary society to grow
because if it is not for this law then some company may just cause loss to its main competitor
and no compensation would be made. With this law, each company will have to be keen and to
avoid any trespass into another company´s premise just to avoid penalty. An individual will be
liable for compensation for a law of trespass to chattel in any of the following circumstances;
i. When the chattel is impaired to its value, quality or condition.
ii. When an individual is disposing the other to the chattel.
iii. In case bodily harm is caused to the possessor or damage is caused to some individual
or even a property that the owner has a legally protected interest.
In this trespass protection of chattel, the owner can only recover the real damage, not
nominal damages. These real damages will be measured through the diminished value of the
chattel which is from the actions of the defendants6. A good example is the case of Adderly v.
Florida. The case was held that Florida trespass Statute and it is applied here to a demonstration
of the premises of the jail. The premise was constructed for security reasons but not opened to
the public. Thus Florida will have to pay for the charges of trespassing into the premises of Jail.
In summary, the law of trespass is very significant in contemporary society as it protects
the individual. A contemporary society involves a lot of globalization and industrialization
activities which always result in pollution. Thus with the help of this law of trespass enable the
6 Mossoff, Adam. "The Trespass Fallacy in Patent Law." Fla. L. Rev. 65 (2013): 1687.
Sacharoff, Laurent. "Constitutional Trespass." Tenn. L. Rev. 81 (2013): 877.
Sacharoff, Laurent. "Trespass and Deception." BYU L. Rev. (2015): 359.

locals around these industries to be safe from pollution. The law of trespass will help the owners
of the land to be protected from the inversion of the owner´s land. The law of trespass will
ensure that the industries do not incur a loss in case a person or a company damages the property
of a given industry. With this lawfully in place, the companies will not incur losses and the
locals living around will be highly protected health-wise and also get compensated from actions
of negligence or intentional activity in another person´s premises. This law makes people and
companies in this contemporary society very keen and responsible for any wrong action they
commit by either intentional or negligence and carelessness activities.
Bibliography
Anderson, Owen L. "Lord Coke, the Restatement, and Modern Subsurface Trespass Law." Tex. J. Oil
Gas & Energy L. 6 (2010): 203.
Atkinson, Katie. "Introduction to special issue on modelling Popov v. Hayashi." Artificial Intelligence and
Law 20, no. 1 (2012): 1-14.
Chianu, Emeka. Law of Trespass to Land and Nuisance. New System Press Limited, 2014.

Claeys, Eric R. "On the'Property'and the'Tort'in Trespass." Chapter for The Philosophical Foundations of
The Law of Torts, John Oberdiek, ed.(Oxford University Press), Forthcoming (2013): 13-29.
Depoorter, Ben. "Fair Trespass." Colum. L. Rev. 111 (2011): 1090.
Dorfman, Avihay, and Assaf Jacob. "The fault of trespass." University of Toronto Law Journal 65, no. 1
(2015): 48-98.
Levitt, Adam J., and Nicole E. Negowetti. "Agricultural Market Touching: Modernizing Trespass to
Chattels in Crop Contamination Cases." U. Haw. L. Rev. 38 (2015): 409.
Lunney, Mark. "Trespass to land." In The Law of Tort. LexisNexis Butterworths, 2015.
Mendelson, Danuta. "Historical evolution and modern implications of concepts of consent to, and refusal
of, medical treatment in the law of trespass." Journal of Legal Medicine 17, no. 1 (2016): 1-71.
Merrill, Thomas W. "Trespass, nuisance, and the costs of determining property rights." The Journal of
Legal Studies 14, no. 1 (2015): 13-48.
Mossoff, Adam. "The Trespass Fallacy in Patent Law." Fla. L. Rev. 65 (2013): 1687.
Sacharoff, Laurent. "Constitutional Trespass." Tenn. L. Rev. 81 (2013): 877.
Sacharoff, Laurent. "Trespass and Deception." BYU L. Rev. (2015): 359.