N.J. Stat. tit. 4, ch. 17

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-2 Trespass; enforcement; penalties; liability.

4:17-2. a. Except as provided otherwise pursuant to subsection b. of this section, any person who trespasses upon the agricultural or horticultural lands of another is liable to a civil penalty of not less than $100.00. b. In addition to any other applicable fines, penalties, or restitution that may be assessed pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1983, c.522 (C.2C:18-6) or any other law, any person who knowingly or recklessly operates a motorized vehicle or rides horseback upon the lands of another without obtaining and in possession of the written permission of the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee thereof, or damages or injures any tangible property, including, but not limited to, any fence, building, feedstocks, crops, live trees, or any domestic animals, located on the lands of another shall be liable to: (1) a civil penalty of not less than $1,000; and (2) the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee of the lands for any reasonable and necessary expenses, including reasonable attorney fees, incurred by the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee to ensure that the lands are restored to their condition prior to commission of the offense. The court shall make a finding of the amount of expenses incurred and damages sustained and order the defendant to pay as appropriate. c. Any civil penalty imposed pursuant to subsection a. or b. of this section shall be collected in a civil action by a summary proceeding under the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). The Superior Court and the municipal court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999." If the violation is of a continuing nature, each day during which it continues shall constitute an additional, separate and distinct offense. d. Nothing in this article shall relieve owners of agricultural or horticultural lands from the obligation to provide conspicuous posting prohibiting trespass on the waters or banks along or around any waters listed for stocking with fish in the current fish code adopted pursuant to section 32 of P.L.1948, c. 448 (C.13:1B-30) before a trespass violation may be found. e. As used in this article, "agricultural or horticultural lands" means lands devoted to the production for sale of plants and animals useful to man, encompassing plowed or tilled fields, standing crops or their residues, cranberry bogs and appurtenant dams, dikes, canals, ditches and pump houses, including impoundments, man-made reservoirs and the adjacent shorelines thereto, orchards, nurseries and lands with a maintained fence for the purpose of restraining domestic livestock. "Agricultural or horticultural lands" shall also include lands in agricultural use, as defined in section 3 of P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-13) where public notice prohibiting trespass is given by actual communication to the actor, conspicuous posting, or fencing or other enclosure manifestly designed to exclude intruders. amended 1953, c.5, s.41; 1983, c.521, s.1; 1991, c.91, s.172; 2018, c.121, s.3.

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-3 Arrest of offenders without warrant.

4:17-3. A person who shall violate any of the provisions of this article may be arrested without warrant by the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee, or an officer of the law and taken for trial before the appropriate court pursuant to R.S.4:17-2. amended 1953, c.5, s.42; 2018, c.121, s.4.

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-4 Failure to produce permit as evidence.

4:17-4. In a prosecution for violation of the provisions of this article, the failure of the defendant to produce a written permit to enter upon the lands upon which the defendant is charged with trespassing, signed by the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee thereof, shall be prima facie proof that the defendant was forbidden by the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee to enter upon the lands of the owner, occupant, lessee, or licensee. amended 2018, c.121, s.5.

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-5 Jail for non-payment of fine.

4:17-5. Upon the failure of a person convicted of violating the provisions of this article to pay a fine as imposed pursuant to this article, the court convicting the person may commit such person to the county jail until the fine is paid. amended 1953, c.5, s.43; 2018, c.121, s.6.

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-9 Injury to or taking of wild flowers, plants or trees; penalty

A person who, without the personal direction or written consent of the owner of the property, shall: a. Remove, cut, break, injure or destroy any tree, shrub, flower, vine or moss, or attempt so to do; b. Take any tree, holly, laurel, rhododendrons, winterberry or ground pine-- Shall be punishable by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars in an action at law to be commenced within three months from the time of the commission of the offense. Nothing in this section shall apply to public utility companies or their agents engaged in the performance of public utility company duties.

N.J. Stat. § 4:17-10 Injuring, destroying or removing trees, saplings or poles; penalty

A person who shall cut, fell, work up, carry away, box, bore or destroy any tree, sapling or pole, standing or lying on any land within this State to which he has no right and title, without leave first obtained of the owner of the land for that purpose, shall forfeit and pay the sum of eight dollars ($8.00) for each tree, sapling or pole so cut, felled, worked up, carried away, boxed, bored or destroyed. One-half of such sum shall go to the owner or owners of the land and the other half to the person or persons suing for and prosecuting the same to effect, at any time within eighteen months from the commission of the acts complained of. Amended by L.1953, c. 5, p. 42, s. 45.