Newsom v. Anderson
| Citation | 2 Ired. 42,37 Am.Dec. 406,24 N.C. 42 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina |
| Decision Date | 31 December 1841 |
| Parties | JACOB NEWSOM v. WILLIAM ANDERSON. |
If an injury to another be immediate, and committed with force, either actual or implied, it is the subject of an action of trespass vi et armis, whether the injury be wilful or not.
Where a person was cutting down trees growing on his own land, and one of them accidentally fell on his neighbor's land, held, that an action of trespass quare clausum fregit would lie, whether there was any grass or other vegetable matter growing on the ground or not.
This was an action of Trespass vi et armis quare clausum fregit, tried at the Fall Term, 1841, of Stokes Superior Court, before his Honor Judge NASH. The plaintiff and the defendant were owners of contiguous tracts of land. In clearing near the dividing line, a tree cut on the defendant's land fell with part of the top on the land of the plaintiff. There was no evidence to show that the tree was felled by design or carelessness on the plaintiff's land: nor was there any evidence to show that when the tree fell there was any grass or vegetable growth of any kind, or that any actual injury was sustained by the land. The counsel for the plaintiff requested the Court to charge the Jury, that when a man, in clearing his land, fells a tree so that any part of it falls on his neighbor's land, it is a trespass for which an action of trespass quare clausum fregit can be sustained. The Court declined giving the instructions as prayed for, but charged the Jury that every voluntary entry on the land of another, without his consent, and not sanctioned by the law, was a trespass for which an action could be brought--that in this case the plaintiff could not sustain his action, unless they were satisfied from the evidence that the tree was designedly or carelessly felled by the defendant so as to fall on the plaintiff's land, or that, by falling on the plaintiff's land, it had fallen on his grass or vegetable growth of some kind. There was a verdict and judgment for the defendant, and the plaintiff appealed.J. T. Morehead for the plaintiff , cited Rev. Stat. c. 31. s. 83; Dougherty v Stepp, 1 Dev. and Bat. 371; Gregory v Piper, 17 Eng. C. L. R. 454; Baker v Berkeley, 14 Eng. C. L. R. 197.
No counsel appeared for the defendant in this Court.
To sustain trespass, the injury must in general be immediate, and committed with force, either actual or implied. If the injurious...
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Smith v. Pate
...has disclosed only two cases which may seem at variance with the conclusion we reach. They are Loubz v. Hafner, 12 N.C. 185, and Newsom v. Anderson, 24 N.C. 42. When one reads those cases, he must keep in mind the factual situation there disclosed. Neither shows unavoidable accident or sudd......
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