← Legal Glossary
Necessity Defense
Definition
A common law defense to trespass or other torts, allowing a person to enter another's property without permission when reasonably necessary to prevent serious harm. Justice Gorsuch raised it as a historical analog for the emergency aid exception, noting that private citizens historically could enter homes to save lives.
Examples
- •Both parties debated whether the common law necessity defense required the entrant to actually be correct about the danger or merely to have acted reasonably