''Dougherty v. Stepp'', 18 N.C. 371 ( N.C. 1835) is a decision of the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consis ...

authored by Chief Justice

Thomas Ruffin Thomas Ruffin (1787–1870) was an American jurist and justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1829 to 1852 and again from 1858 to 1859. He was chief justice of that Court from 1833 to 1852. Biography Thomas Ruffin was born on Novembe ...

. For at least a century, this case has been used in first-year

Torts A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishabl ...

classes in American law schools to teach students about the tort of

trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person, trespass to chattels Trespass to chattels is a tort whereby the infringing party has intentionally (or, in Australia, negligently) interfered with ...

upon

real property In English common law, real property, real estate, immovable property or, solely in the US and Canada, realty, is land which is the property of some person and all structures (also called improvements or fixtures) integrated with or affixe ...

.See, e.g.,

James Barr Ames James Barr Ames (June 22, 1846 – January 8, 1910) was an American law educator, who popularized the "case-study" method of teaching law. Biography Ames was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 22, 1846; son of Samuel T. and Mary H. (Barr) Am ...

and Jeremiah Smith, ''A Selection of Cases on the Law of Torts'' (3rd ed., 1910), Vol. 1, pp. 59-60;

Richard Epstein Richard Allen Epstein (born April 17, 1943) is an American legal scholar known for his writings on torts, contracts, property rights, law and economics, classical liberalism, and libertarianism. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at ...

, ''Cases and Materials on Torts'' (8th ed., 2004), pp. 9-10.

Background

Stepp incorrectly believed that certain unenclosed land belonging to Doughterty belonged to him. Stepp therefore entered the unenclosed land with a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

and chain carriers, who began

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

the land.''Dougherty v. Stepp'', 18 N.C. 371, 371 (N.C. 1835). Before they had marked any trees or cut any bushes, Dougherty challenged their actions. Dougherty then brought suit against Stepp for

'' quare clausum fregit''. A

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...

was held in

Buncombe Buncombe may refer to: * Buncombe County, North Carolina * Buncombe, Illinois * An alternative spelling of Buncom, Oregon * Edward Buncombe Edward Buncombe (1742–1778) was a plantation owner from the Province of North Carolina who served as a co ...

before Judge Martin. Judge Martin

held Held may refer to: Places * Held Glacier People Arts and media * Adolph Held (1885–1969), U.S. newspaper editor, banker, labor activist *Al Held (1928–2005), U.S. abstract expressionist painter. * Alexander Held (born 1958), German televis ...

that since Stepp, the defendant, had not damaged Dougherty's land in any way, Stepp had not committed a trespass. He therefore

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

the

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England du ...

to find for the defendant. Dougherty then appealed this ruling to the

. Dougherty's lawyer argued that every unwarrantable entering on another's real property constituted a trespass, even if the defendant mistakenly believed that the land belonged to him. He also argued that every trespass involves some

damage Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H., ...

to the property, even if it is only the treading down and bruising of the herbage and shrubbery. Stepp's lawyer did not appear before the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Opinion of the Court

In a

per curiam decision In law, a ''per curiam'' decision (or opinion) is a ruling issued by an appellate court of multiple judges in which the decision rendered is made by the court (or at least, a majority of the court) acting collectively (and typically, though no ...

authored by Chief Justice Ruffin, the Court granted the plaintiff's appeal. The court found that it was error for the trial court to hold that Stepp's actions did not constitute a trespass. The court held that "every unauthorised, and therefore unlawful entry, into the close of another, is a trespass." From every illegal entry onto another's land, the law infers some damages, even if only the

nominal damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

of treading down the grass, herbage, or shrubbery. The court therefore granted the appeal and

remanded Remand may refer to: * Remand (court procedure), when an appellate court sends a case back to the trial court or lower appellate court * Pre-trial detention, detention of a suspect prior to a trial, conviction, or sentencing See also *'' Remando ...

the case for a new trial.

References

External links

Case brief from www.4lawschool.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dougherty V. Stepp 1835 in United States case law North Carolina state case law United States tort case law 1835 in North Carolina Buncombe County, North Carolina