Lewis v. Mason

Similarly, in Brown v. Hartzell , 87 Mo. 564 (1885), the plaintiff was the record title owner of property, and sought to pursue a statutory trespass claim against the defendant "for cutting and carrying away poplar trees from the described premises." Id. at 567. Like the statute at issue in this case, the statute involved in Brown provided that, if a person removed trees from "the land of any other person," "the person so offending shall pay, to the party injured , treble the value of the thing so injured, broken, destroyed or carried away." § 3921, RSMo 1879 (emphasis added).

The evidence in…