Grande Rivière Breadfruit Bacchanal — Part 1: Paradise, Pone and One Breadfruit Tree

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO | THE Grande Rivière BREADFRUIT CHRONICLES | PART ONE OF FOUR

Paradise, Pone and One Breadfruit Tree

There is something magical about Grande Rivière. The green hills fold down towards the sea, dogs stroll about like they own the roadway, the river makes its way towards the coast and neighbours still call out to you long before you reach their gate. Parts of the village feel as though somebody pressed pause on the 1960s.

Cindy has her pepper sauces and delicious pone, the kind of food that makes a visitor remember the village long after leaving. Carleen prepares the sort of local cooking that turns lunch into a proper occasion. Small places to stay and welcoming homes bring visitors through the area, but the countryside still has its own unhurried rhythm.

And right in the middle of this paradise stood one magnificent breadfruit tree. It belonged, as far as Miss Irene was concerned, entirely to her yard. Unfortunately, several fat green breadfruits were dangling over the fence into Miss Jasmine's yard.

One morning Miss Jasmine looked up, smiled, and imagined oil-down, breadfruit chips and roasted breadfruit. Miss Irene looked up from the other side of the fence and saw trouble approaching.

'Jasmine, I hope you not studying to pick my breadfruit!' she called. Miss Jasmine was already reaching for a long stick. 'But Irene, they hanging over my yard!'

The parrots scattered. A dog barked. A neighbour stopped walking to enjoy the free entertainment. This was no longer merely a question of lunch. It was about ownership, boundaries and two ladies who had known each other far too long to allow one breadfruit to win an argument.

The law behind the laughter

A branch crossing a property boundary does not necessarily transfer ownership of the tree or fruit to the neighbour. The precise location of the trunk, land boundary, ownership or permission matters. In Trinidad and Tobago, the law of private nuisance can also be relevant where overhanging branches cause substantial interference.

The Legal Aid and Advisory Authority explains that reasonable abatement, such as trimming overhanging branches, may be available in appropriate nuisance cases. But that is not the same thing as a blanket right to pick and keep someone else's fruit.

COMING IN PART TWO: The ladder comes out and so do the accusations.

Legal reading: Legal Aid and Advisory Authority, Comprehending the Law on Private Nuisance, https://laaa.org.tt/news-and-events/152-comprehending-the-law-on-private-nuisance

A fictional village tale for legal education, not legal advice.