Trespass
An intentional, unauthorized physical entry onto another's land, regardless of whether harm results.
On the MBE the tell is an entry that causes no actual damage yet still lets the plaintiff recover — that signals trespass, because the entry itself is the wrong. Watch the intent trap: the defendant need only intend the act of entering a particular spot, so a hiker who reasonably believes the land is his still trespasses, and transferred intent runs across the five trespassory torts (battery, assault, false imprisonment, trespass to land, trespass to chattels). A non-physical invasion — odors, light, vibrations — is the cue to switch to nuisance (a modern minority lets settling particulates be trespass, but then demands proof of actual harm).
The classic confusion is land versus chattel. Interference with a physical object is trespass to chattels or conversion, graded by the seriousness of interference — conversion is serious enough to force a full-value buyout, never trespass to land. Students also wrongly demand “unreasonable” conduct — that substantial-and-unreasonable test belongs to nuisance. Memory hook: trespass = the line, nuisance = the air — cross the boundary versus poison the enjoyment.
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