What happens if

[Nofriends]

A tree branch of one of your neighbours is coming over your fence and you take, for example, an apple from it.
Can he sue for theft?Can you sue for invasion of property? Can you take the tree to court for trespassing? Can you sue the person who planted the tree? Can you be sued for cutting off the tree branch seeing as it is on your property, giving you ownership over a segment of it?
If so, and it leads to other parts of the tree becoming damaged a result, can you be sued for not using an appropriate method for sawing off the tree branch which would cause less damage to the tree? Would that be successful seeing as it initially occurred due the planter or owner or previous owners of the property?

 

[Rook]

You can enjoy an apple.

Compared to that, legal thingamabores pale in comparison.

 

[Cognisant]

If it grew in your yard its yours, there's many cases of fruiting vines growing along boundary fences and claiming ownership of the other side of the vine would just be infeasible, likewise if one person destroyed the vine on their side (effectively killing the entire plant) that's just unfortunate for the other person.

Law isn't a matter of what's fair but rather what works for society.

Poisoning the roots of the hypothetical apple tree would be incredibly spiteful but as long as you don't hurt anyone they can't really charge you with anything, likewise you could extend your house in a way that puts the tree in the shade and as long as you have council approval for the construction you're entitled to do it.

Of course starting a "who can be more spiteful" competition isn't a good idea.

 

[QuickTwist]

If a boat is floating down a river without anyone in it and it goes over a waterfall, does anyone miss it?