On 11/9/05, Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There certainly are trespass laws in Britain. I'm currently taking a law > course as a requirement for my master's degree at Duquesne University > and we just covered trespass. (I just got back from an exam on that very > subject not 20 minutes ago!) American trespass law is based on English > common law. I'd wager Canadian trespass law is also, so perhaps Knarf > can fill us in some more. Anyway, property rights in Britain, including > trespass, are at least partly based on the writings of John Locke.<snip>
I'm no expert, but: In England, trespass is a civil wrong, and an action on trespass is a private matter to be pleaded in the civil courts. There are no "trespass laws", as the law has evolved over the years in common law, ie: it has evolved through interpretation by judges. In Canada, and likely the US and most other Common Law jurisdictions, trespass has been codified, and is now a quasi-criminal matter. Here, each province has it's own Trespass Act, all of which are more or less identical (except Quebec, which as Adam says, has it's own Civil Law system, more or less based on the Napoleonic Code). Those Trespass Acts basically say that a landowner or their agents can ask one to leave private property, and if the interloper doesn't leave, the police can be summoned and the person can be issued a summons and fined. In addition, if that person is given a Trespass Notice (as defined by the Act), they may not return, and are subject to sanction if they do. If the person does not leave when requested, they can be arrested. "No trespassing" signs can be posted on private property, in which case anyone found on that property can be summonsed, fined and arrested, no prior notice required. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
