Chapter the twelfth.
Of Trespass.
In the two preceding chapters we have conſidered ſuch injuries to real property, as conſiſted in an ouſter, or amotion of the poſſeſſion. Thoſe which remain to be diſcuſſed are ſuch as may be offered to a man’s real property without any amotion from it.
The ſecond ſpecies therefore of real injuries, or wrongs that affect a man’s lands, tenements, or hereditaments, is by treſpaſs. Treſpaſs, in it’s largeſt and moſt extenſive ſenſe, ſignifies any tranſgreſſion or offence againſt the law of nature, of ſociety, or of the country in which we live; whether it relates to a man’s perſon, or his property. Therefore beating another is a treſpaſs; for which (as we have formerly ſeen) an action of treſpaſs vi et armis in aſſault and battery will lie: taking or detaining a man’s goods are reſpectively treſpaſſes; for which an action of treſpaſs vi et armis, or on the caſe in trover and converſion, is given by the law: ſo alſo non-performance of promiſes or undertakings is a treſpaſs, upon which an action of treſpaſs on the caſe in aſſumpſit is grounded: and, in general, any misfeaſance, or act of one man whereby another is injuriouſly treated or damnified, is a tranſgreſſion, or treſpaſs in it’s largeſt ſenſe; for which we have already ſeen[1] that whenever the act itſelf is directly and imme-
- ↑ See pag. 123.
