In article <telecom25.49.10@telecom-digest.org>,
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What I could never understand is how
> stores such as Walmart on the one hand want to encourage shoppers
> (although I do not personally care for the chain) yet on the other
> hand they can claim that someone is 'tresspassing' if the person comes
> in their store. Ditto with public transit. If it is a public place,
> which is claimed,
It is *still* _PRIVATE_PROPERTY_, and the property owner _does_ have the
legal right to determine who can, and *cannot*, be present on their
property.
The property can extend an invitation (permission) to the 'general
public', and then revoke -- by 'actual notice' to the party involved
-- that permission for specific individuals.
Where an invitation to the general public exists, *before* you can be
charged with trespass, they must first expressly notify you that your
presence is 'no longer welcome' (i.e., they ask you to leave the
premises, "now"), and you fail to comply with that request in a timely
manner.
> then how can a member of the public who chooses to
> go inside or upon the property of the store or the transit agency get
> arrested by police for trespassing? Yet CTA does that all time; so
> does Walmart. Seems to me like Walmart and transit agency want to have
> things both ways at the same time. PAT]
If you allow somebody into your apartment -- say, to use the phone --
do you think you should have no recourse, if they sit down on the sofa
and refuse to leave when you ask?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a considerable difference
between purely private, residential property and privately owned
property used for commercial purposes, as any reasonably intelligent
person would explain to you. At my house, for example, I have to
positively invite someone to come in to use the phone. Walmart does
not 'invite' someone in to do shopping or use the phone. The store
just sits there with an open door; people walk in and out at their
leisure. No one specifically 'invites' or 'allows' them to come in
to do shopping. Now if Walmart was to specifically lock their front
door, and have someone sit there to question all comers, and specifi-
cally allow them to come in to do shopping or use the phone or
whatever that would be different. When is the last time you ever heard
someone walk into Walmart, seek out the manager or some responsible
employee and ask permission, "is it okay if I come in to go shopping?"
PAT]
Robert Bonomi (bonomi@host122.r-bonomni.com)