Rhodig v. Keck

Because the majority sanctioned conduct on the part of Keck which constituted a trespass and the destruction *341of co-owned property without the imposition of damages, I cannot agree with their opinion.

Under the early English common law, a tree which stood on a property line made the adjoining owners tenants in common of that tree, and if one of the co-owners cut the whole he was liable for damages to the other. Waterman v. Soper, 1 Ld. Raym. 737. This case was followed in the early American case of Griffin v. Bixby, 12 N.H. 454.

Since that time a body of law has developed which holds that each…