In modern law, the term break-in is most commonly used to describe the intentional and unlawful invasion of someone else's real estate. The landlord or any other person who has the legal right to occupy the real property, such as the owner of an apartment building, a tenant, or a member of the tenant's family, can initiate a burglary action. The action can be maintained against anyone who interferes with the right to property or possession, whether the invasion is by a person or something that a person has set in motion. For example, a hunter who enters fields where hunting is prohibited is an intruder, as is a company that throws stones at neighboring lands when it explodes. A person commits an offence when they enter or remain on someone else's property without the property owner's permission.
The Supreme Court will not allow search laws to be used to exclude people from private property because of their race or political activity if the government has ordered or encouraged the property owner to use search laws in such a discriminatory manner. Many states do not allow the squatter to sue the rightful owner for unauthorized entry through forced entry, but the occupant can sue for assault and battery or for damage to their personal property. Damage to property is not necessary for the defendant to be guilty of breaking and entering, although the amount of damages awarded will generally reflect the magnitude of the damage caused to the property. The injury could include taking the plaintiff's property or damaging it, destroying it, or preventing the plaintiff from retaining or using it as she was entitled to. However, the various search actions are still important because modern property laws rely heavily on them.
These state and federal limitations on homeowners' use of search laws to exclude people from their properties do not violate any rights guaranteed to landlords by the United States Constitution. In addition, an intruder cannot defend himself in a search action by demonstrating that the plaintiff did not have a fully valid legal right to the property. The landlord has no right to evict or evict an intruder or to enter an intruder's property without authorization as long as the emergency caused by necessity continues. In general, search actions are only allowed when there is damage to the surface or interference with the landlord's right to use her property. To enter without authorization is to knowingly enter another owner's property or land without permission, which invades the privacy or property interests of the owners.
