State v. French

Decided September 24, 1889

Indiana Supreme Court · decided 1889-09-24

Criminal Law. — Trespass.—Unenclosed Land. — Under section 1941, B. S. 1881, it is trespass to enter upon the land of another after being forbidden, whether the land be enclosed or not. Same. — “Premises.”—Meaning of Word. — As the word “ premises ” means . “ lands and tenements,” an affidavit under section 1941 is not bad because such word is used instead of the word “ land.” Same. — Affidavit for Trespass. — Description of Premises. — An affidavit for trespass under section 1941, is bad unless it contains some identification or description of the premises upon which it is alleged the offence was committed.

Cited in Black's (1910)’s definition of “Premises”

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1889-09-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently November 1969

1 federal appellate · 9 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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¶1On Petition for a Rehearing.

Elliott, C. J.

¶2We think the authorities cited by the State do not apply to such a case as this. We think that where there is a prosecution under the statute on which the affidavit is founded, there must be some identification or de*231scription of the property, otherwise if the person named as owner should own ten, or more, parcels of property, the defendant could not be informed which parcel it was that he was forbidden to enter. If prosecuted a second time, a defendant could not show by the record, as he ought to have a right to do, that there had been a former recovery or a former acquittal. There is a distinction between prosecutions under this statute and cases where permanent injury is done to the land.

Filed Nov. 2, 1889.

¶3Certainly, where, as here, the prosecutor employs such a loose and vague term as “ premises,” he should be required to give some general description of the premises.

¶4Petition overrruled.