Tort Law: Trespass
An action for trespass is designed to protect an owner’s interest in exclusive possession of real or personal property in its intact physical condition. Therefore, a trespass is an injury to property committed by one not rightfully in possession. A trespasser is one who enters onto the property of another without any right or lawful authority.
Trespass to land, trespass to chattel, and conversion are separate intentional torts designed to protect personal property from wrongful interference in different scenarios. Trespass to chattel and conversion, which overlap in part, are derived from different historical origins. In many, but not all instances, both torts may be applicable.
Trespass to land occurs where a person directly enters upon another’s land without permission, or remains upon the land, or places or projects any object upon the land and is actionable per se, or without the need to prove damage. In contrast, nuisance is an indirect interference with another’s use and enjoyment of land, and normally requires proof of damage to be actionable. The generally accepted distinction between trespass and nuisance may be stated briefly as follows: trespass is an entry on land that interferes with the possession of property, whereas nuisance is a use of one’s own property that invades another’s right of use and enjoyment of his or her property. In fact, the distinction between trespass and nuisance is not always sharp, and both causes of action may be present in the same case.
For example, an entry on land resulting in an interference with the possession of the property may also impair the owner’s use and enjoyment of the property, and the plaintiff in such a case might prevail under either or both theories. Furthermore, in certain cases, what is technically an entry by a thing or substance onto the land of another may not be sufficient to constitute a trespass. Thus, for example, water pollution is ordinarily compensated for under theories of nuisance or negligence, not trespass. Because of the variety of conduct that may result in interference with the possession, or invasion of the right of use, of real property, it has been said that both trespass and nuisance are fields of tort liability, rather than single kinds of tortious conduct.
Trespass to chattel is the intentional interference with the right of possession of personal property. The defendant’s acts must intentionally damage the chattel, deprive the possessor of its use for a substantial period of time, or totally dispossess the chattel from the victim
Conversion is an intentional exercise of dominion and control over a chattel which so seriously interferes with the right of another to control it that the actor may justly be required to pay the other the full value of the chattel. It consists of some distinct act of dominion wrongfully asserted over another’s personal property in denial of, or inconsistent with, the owner’s rights. The essence of the tort is the wrongful deprivation of the owner’s use and possession of the property. It is not necessary that the wrongdoer have benefited by the conversion. Temporary deprivation is sufficient, and it does not matter what was done with the converted property. Manual taking of the property is not required to establish conversion. Nor is an intent to convert necessary.
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