Trespass was a kind of lawsuit at

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

called a

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, 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 cri ...

. The form of action alleged a trespass upon person or property ,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "by force and arms" The plaintiff would allege in a

plea In law, a plea is a defendant's response to a criminal charge. A defendant may plead guilty or not guilty. Depending on jurisdiction, additional pleas may be available, including '' nolo contendere'' (no contest), no case to answer (in the ...

ding that the act committing the offense was "immediately injurious to another's property, and therefore necessarily accompanied by some degree of force; and by special action ''on the case'', where the act is in itself indifferent and the injury only consequential, and therefore arising without any breach of the peace." Thus it was "immaterial whether the injury was committed willfully or not".''Taylor v. Rainbow'', 2 Hen & M. 423 In ''Taylor v. Rainbow'', the defendant negligently discharged a firearm in a public place and caused the loss of the plaintiff's leg. The defendant was held to be liable for medical bills as well as lost earnings as a result of the disability. Thus, proof that the act or omission was unintended was no defense to an action of trespass ''vi et armis'' and the liable party would pay for all consequent damages. Recovery for damages for a trespass ''vi et armis'' were limited only to the direct consequences of the act or omission causing the injury. For instance, the state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

reported that monetary loss for detention from business as an indirect result of the injury were not recoverable under an action for trespass ''vi et armis'', but were available under the related action of

trespass on the case The writs of trespass and trespass on the case are the two catchall torts from English common law, the former involving trespass against the person, the latter involving trespass against anything else which may be actionable. The writ is also known ...

, also known as an action "against the wrong". Trespass ''vi et armis'' was a precursor to many other forms of lawsuits at common law. The cause came to be formulaic and in many cases fictitious. For instance, a lawsuit against a defendant that had spoiled wine with salt water required an allegation that he had done so with bows and arrows.See e.g. ''Rattlesdene v. Grunestone'' (1317). The ancient courts at common law developed trespass upon the case as an alternative pleading to causes of action which arose neither from force nor weapons. In modern times, the specific formalities of the distinction between the two have dropped in favor of notice pleading or code pleading and actions for

negligence Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...

, battery,

trespass to chattels Trespass to chattels, also called trespass to personalty or trespass to personal property, is a tort whereby the infringing party has intentionally (or, in Australia, negligently) interfered with another person's lawful possession of a chattel ...

, and conversion. The related phrase of , "against the King's peace", was necessarily not a required element of trespass , although it was possible for both allegations to appear in a lawsuit when the intentional use of force or weapons breached the peace.

References

{{Reflist Latin legal terminology Tort law