Returning first to the case of the thorns in the Year Book, /1/
it will be seen that the falling of the thorns into the
plaintiff's close, although a result not wished by the defendant,
was in no other sense against his will. When he cut the thorns,
he did an act which obviously and necessarily would have that
consequence, and he must be taken to have foreseen and not to
have prevented it. Choke, C. J. says, "As to what was said about
their falling in, ipso invito, that is no plea, but he ought to
show that he could not do it in any other way, or that he did all
in his power to keep them out"; and both the judges put the
unlawfulness of the entry upon the plaintiff's land as a
consequence of the unlawfulness of dropping the thorns there.
Choke admits that, if the thorns or a tree had been blown over
upon the plaintiff's land, the defendant might have entered to
get them. Chief Justice Crew says of this case, in Millen v.
Fawdry, /2/ that the opinion was that "trespass lies, because he
did not plead that he did his best endeavor to hinder their
falling there; yet this was a hard case." The statements of law
by counsel in argument may be left on one side, although Brian is
quoted and mistaken for one of the judges by Sir William
Blackstone, in Scott v. Shepherd.
The principal authorities are the shooting cases, and, as
shooting is an extra-hazardous act, it would not be surprising
if it should be held that men do it at their peril in public
places. The liability has been put on the general ground of
fault, however, wherever the line of necessary [104] precaution
may be drawn. In Weaver v. Ward, /1/ the defendant set up that
the plaintiff and he were skirmishing in a trainband, and that
when discharging his piece he wounded the plaintiff by accident
and misfortune, and against his own will. On demurrer, the court
says that "no man shall be excused of a trespass,... except it
may be judged utterly without his fault. As if a man by force
take my hand and strike you, or if here the defendant had said,
that the plaintiff ran cross his piece when it was discharging,
or had set forth the case with the circumstances so as it had
appeared to the court that it had been inevitable, and that the
defendant had committed no negligence to give occasion to the
hurt." The later cases simply follow Weaver v. Ward.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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