Definition
Direct and immediate interference with person, land, or goods.
Torts of direct interference — trespass to person (assault, battery, false imprisonment), trespass to land (entering without permission), and trespass to goods.
Statutory Definition
BNS 2023, Section 329 (criminal trespass, formerly IPC Section 441); tort at common law.
Etymology & Origin
From Old French 'trespas' (a crossing over, transgression — from 'trespasser', to cross over — Latin 'trans', across, and 'passus', a step, pace). A 'trespass' is literally stepping across a boundary that one is not permitted to cross — whether that boundary is a person's body, land, or property.
Full Legal Analysis
Trespass in law refers to a family of direct, intentional interferences that are actionable per se — meaning the plaintiff does not need to prove actual damage; the mere act of trespass is sufficient to found an action. There are three categories: (1) Trespass to person — assault (placing a person in reasonable apprehension of immediate unlawful force), battery (application of unlawful force to another's body), and false imprisonment (total restraint of liberty); (2) Trespass to land — entering or remaining on another's land without permission or legal authority; and (3) Trespass to goods — directly interfering with another's movable property.
Trespass to land (civil): any intentional entry onto another's land without permission or legal justification is a trespass, regardless of whether any damage is caused. The landowner may sue for nominal damages even without proving actual harm. Continued trespass is a fresh trespass every day it continues. Vertical extent of the trespass principle: a landowner's rights extend to the air above and the ground below, though modern law (for aviation purposes) has modified the absolute rule. The defences to trespass to land include: consent/licence (express or implied), necessity, legal authority (a search warrant, for example), and public right of way.
The seminal English case establishing that every unauthorised entry onto another's land is a trespass, for which the defendant must show a legal justification — absence of justification is sufficient for the plaintiff to succeed. In India, this principle is applied in civil trespass suits. The case is foundational for the rule that even state officers (police, revenue officials) must have legal authority for entry onto private land — entry without a valid warrant or statutory authority is a trespass. This rule is incorporated in Indian law through the CrPC/BNSS provisions requiring search warrants before entry into private premises.
Trespass to person — the criminal equivalents: battery is covered by assault and hurt provisions of the BNS (Section 115 — voluntarily causing hurt); assault is covered by Section 131 BNS (assault) and Section 351 (criminal force); false imprisonment is covered by wrongful confinement (Section 127 BNS, formerly Section 340 IPC). The civil tort of trespass to person provides a damages remedy, while the criminal provisions provide punishment.
Trespass ab initio: where a person enters land under a legal authority or licence and then abuses that authority, they become a trespasser from the beginning (ab initio) — as if they had never had lawful authority. For example, a bailiff who enters to levy execution but commits an unrelated illegal act while on the premises becomes liable as if they had entered unlawfully from the start.
For advocates, trespass matters arise in: (1) civil suits for trespass to land — seeking injunctions against repeated trespass and damages; (2) criminal complaints under BNS Section 329 (criminal trespass) and Section 330 (house trespass); (3) property disputes — establishing who has possessory rights over a piece of land; and (4) search and seizure challenges — challenging police entry without a valid warrant as a trespass to the premises and violation of Article 21.
This Term in Indian Statutes
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, 2023
"Whoever enters into or upon property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property, or having lawfully entered into or upon such property, unlawfully remains there with intent thereby to intimidate, insult or annoy any such person, or with intent to commit an offence, is said to commit 'criminal trespass'."
Entick v. Carrington: authorised entry — no justification = trespass; trespass ab initio; civil trespass actionable per se; BNS Section 330 house trespass; trespass to person = battery/false imprisonment
