Re: [Amc-list] OT: Booby traps and respect for other's propery

[Victor the Cleaner <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 06:38:04PM -0500, Jay Honeycutt wrote:

> While it may be tempting to take such measures, US law is not on your
> side.
> 
> See:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katko_v._Briney
> 
> I lived in Iowa when this event happened and one of my law professors
> was a clerk for the Iowa Supreme Court when it was argued there.
> It was an extreme case and got a lot of people riled up, but it is
> completely consistent with the law in most, if not all, states.  You can
> take "deadly force" for self-protection, but not for property protection.
> 
> I once picked a ride with a guy who described his anti-theft measure
> for his car stereo, taping razor blades to the back side of the case.
> 
> He knows it works, as he found his stereo partially yanked out one
> morning, but with a lot of blood on his car's carpeting.

Interesting, and you're probably right, but we should note that this case
was absent an explicit warning of the consequences of that trespass.  I
submit that the result may have been different had the property carried a
notice that "In the event of trespass, you will be met with an automated 
shotgun and probably killed."  In that event, the notion of the onus of
personal responsibility for one's own safety may have carried more weight.

And as tempted as I am to point out that I'm in Canada, and not the US, my 
knowledge of our legal system (my father was a judge for most of my - and 
his - life) suggests that we would be even less tolerant of such punitive 
measures being meted out on a mere thief.

Jonathan
 
_______________________________________________
Amc-list mailing list
Amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://splatter.wps.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/amc-list