People v. Smith

An ordinance which when literally applied seeks to make criminal any trespass upon open, unfenced, unposted land of another, no matter what the circumstances, irrespective of intent and irrespective of whether a reasonable person could be expected to know that his conduct was unlawful, cannot be sustained. (People v. Lawson, 44 Misc 2d 578, affd. 16 N Y 2d 552.)

In our opinion, the ordinance in question (Ordinance No. 9 of the Village of Brookville) offends against the principle that a criminal .statute must give fair warning of the conduct that it seeks to make a crime, so that a person of…