State v. . Widenhouse
Supreme Court of North Carolina
INDICTMENT for a forcible trespass on a public highway, tried before Logan, J., at the Spring Term, 1874, of Cababrus Superior Court. On the trial in the Court below, the jury returned a special verdict, substantially finding the following facts: The prosecutor lived in forty yards of the public highway, which ran in front of his house and on both sides ot which he owned the land.
Read the full summary
INDICTMENT for a forcible trespass on a public highway, tried before Logan, J., at the Spring Term, 1874, of Cababrus Superior Court. On the trial in the Court below, the jury returned a special verdict, substantially finding the following facts: The prosecutor lived in forty yards of the public highway, which ran in front of his house and on both sides ot which he owned the land. That at the time of the alleged trespass, the defendants, near dusk, came riding violently along the road in front of his house; that after passing they wheeled and passed back along the same; that they then got…
1Opinion of the CourtSettle, J.
All the questions presented by the record in this case are discussed and well decided in State v. Buckner, Phil., 558.
It is there held that where the land on both sides of the road, whether public or private, belongs to the prosecutor, he is the owner of the soil over which the road runs, and persons who stop upon such road and use violent and menacing language to him are guilty of forcible trespass.
The only privilege which the public have in a public road is that of passing over it, and those who abuse that privilege become trespassers ab mitio.
Let it be certified that there is error, to the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- State v. . BucknerSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1868
3Cited by3 opinions
- Saunders v. GilbertSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1911
- Saunders v. . GilbertSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1911
- State v. . TalbotSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1887