Trespass in English law

Trespass in English law is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to goods and trespass to land.

Trespass to the person comes in three variants: assault, which is "to act in such a way that the claimant believes he is about to be attacked"; battery, "the intentional and direct application of force to another person"; and false imprisonment, "depriving the claimant of freedom of movement, without a lawful justification for doing so". All three require that the act be a direct and intentional act, with indirect or unintentional acts falling under the tort of negligence. Battery and assault require the claimant to establish that the defendant intended to act, while false imprisonment is a tort of strict liability. The guiding principle behind all three is based on the statement of Goff, LJ, who stated in Collins v Wilcock that "any person's body is inviolate", excepting normal, day-to-day physical contact.

Trespass to goods is defined as "wrongful physical interference with goods that are in the possession of another", and is covered not only by the common law, but also by the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. The "trespass" can be as little as touching or moving the goods, given the right circumstances. It is unknown whether intention is required for a claim under trespass to goods, as the matter has never gone to court; the courts have confirmed that for damages to be awarded for harm suffered, the harm must have been reasonably foreseeable.

Trespass to land involves the "unjustifiable interference with land which is in the immediate and exclusive possession of another"; it is both a tort and, in certain circumstances, a crime under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. It is not necessary to prove that harm was suffered to bring a claim, and is instead actionable per se. While most trespasses to land are intentional, the courts have decided that it could also be committed negligently. Accidental trespass also incurs liability.

The general principle is that a trespass to the person must be a direct and intentional act, while if it was indirect or unintentional the tort of negligence is more appropriate, as established in Letang v Cooper. The tort of trespass to the person contains three possible types; assault, battery and false imprisonment.

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