Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Yahwe
tresspassers can't be prosecuted. there is no crime to prosecute them with (unless it's tresspassing on a railway line which is a specific offence)
kura: I worried this. I mean you say 'docile' but is it more that most people just don't know about what the law says (which must be the law's fault not theirs) and therefore companies can use these signs to 'bully'?
|
[edit]
Please note, in an incident of shocking bad form, I only read the first few posts so this may have been answered already.
[/edit]
So far as this layman is aware, it goes something like this:
While trespassers can't be prosecuted for just being on your property, they
can be taken to task for any damage they may cause (however I think that's not a criminal thing, so no high court trails etc). If someone just strolls in and out of your garden, there is little you can do about it.
To add to the slightly surreal situation, you still have a duty of care to people on your property (invited or otherwise), and so constructing pitfalls in the garden in fact opens you up to a court case. I'm not sure whether a "Caution: Pitfalls!" sign would absolve you from liability or not.
The main thing I'm unsure about is to what extent courts in this mordern age will stick to the letter of these fairly archaic laws. To me it seems ludicrous that you can be sued if a trespasser trips over a rake that was hidden in your lawn and breaks his leg.