ABSTRACT
One method of ending a dispute in one’s favour is the method of self-help. If, for example, someone has built a fence onto a neighbour’s property, that neighbour may tear down the fence. This method has two disadvantages: first, the person who resorts to self-help may have a mistaken view of rights (and will therefore be liable in damages for the harm caused by tearing the fence down); second, the opponent may resort to self-help also. If both sides resort to self-help, physical conflict may result. An example of self-help that would occur more frequently than the tearing down of a fence is the cutting off of that part of a tree which hangs over onto a neighbour’s property: rather than taking the neighbour to court, the landowner whose property the branches overhang can choose to cut off those branches at the property boundary (and may do so without even giving notice to the owner of the trees provided that there is no trespass on that person’s land in the course of cutting the branches).5
