Court case(1681) 3 Lev 37

The plaintiff and the defendant held adjoining land. The defendant, mowing the grass on his own land, mowed across the boundary, involuntarily and by mistake, cutting some of the plaintiff's grass and carrying it away as his own. He did not mean to take anything that was not his own. The plaintiff sued him in trespass for entering his land and cutting and carrying away the grass. The defendant pleaded that he had crossed the boundary involuntarily and by mistake, believing the strip to be part of his own land, so that he had no intention to commit any wrong against the plaintiff.

The court gave judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant's plea of mistake was no answer: the act of entering the land and cutting and carrying away the grass was his own voluntary act, though he did not know the land was not his. It was not an involuntary act such as being carried on to the land by force, which would excuse him. The fact that he thought the grass was his own did not alter the character of his act.