142 A. 460 | Conn. | 1928
This action was brought to recover damages for cutting a privet hedge standing along the boundary between the land of the plaintiff and that of the defendant. The trial court found the following facts: The hedge, while somewhat irregular, followed the boundary line as closely as could be expected of such a hedge; it was considered by both parties as a division fence; it had been allowed to grow wild, only occasionally being trimmed, was some ten or twelve feet high, and the tops of the bushes in places extended several feet over the land on either side of the boundary; the defendant lopped off five or six feet of the upper portion of the hedge so as to reduce its height to about five or six feet; this did not damage it in any way, but rather improved it; it continued to grow and at the time of trial had again reached the height of about twelve feet. The trial court concluded that the defendant's act did not violate the plaintiffs' rights and caused them no damage.
Our statutes recognize that a hedge may be a division fence, if its middle be upon the boundary line and it be not over two feet in width. General Statutes, § 5129; Hine v. Wooding,
It necessarily follows that the trial court was in error in holding that the acts of the defendant did not invade the rights of the plaintiffs. But that does not necessitate a new trial. In view of the finding of the trial court that the plaintiffs have suffered no actual damage, the most that they could recover upon a new trial would be nominal damages, and no such substantial rights are here involved as would justify ordering it to permit such a recovery. Cheshire BrassCo. v. Wilson,
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.