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Trespass on SSSI sites
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thesweetcheat
thesweetcheat
6195 posts

Re: Trespass on SSSI sites
Sep 03, 2012, 18:21
It's funny coming back after a couple of days to a locked thread. Usually that signifies major fallings-out, shouting, flouncing and handbags (and that's just from me). This time we have a thread locked when there seems to have been general agreement and consensus on a lot of points, and not even a cross word. Ha.

Anyway, very interesting post about criminal trespass. It might be worth mentioning that trespass to land (unless other offences are involved) wasn't a crime until 1994, when the much-loved Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 came into force and is still quite limited. But there is a much longer standing civil law relating to trespass (a "tort"). Here's a bit from wiki:

"Trespass to land involves the "unjustifiable interference with land which is in the immediate and exclusive possession of another". It is not necessary to prove that harm was suffered to bring a claim, and is instead actionable per se.

.....

The main element of the tort is "interference". This must be both direct and physical, with indirect interference instead being covered by negligence or nuisance. "Interference" covers any physical entry to land, as well as the abuse of a right of entry, when a person who has the right to enter the land does something not covered by the permission. If the person has the right to enter the land but remains after this right expires, this is also trespass. It is also a trespass to throw anything on the land."


So a landowner can bring a civil action for trespass, even where there isn't criminal trespass.
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