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by pilchard123 953 days ago
IIRC some jurisdictions consider any force at all - such as pushing an already-open door further open - to be sufficient to make it B&E rather than simply trespassing.
2 comments

Force isn’t even required in some places, apparently!

This page expands on the differences in a few countries: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burglary

Canada

> Breaking and entering is defined as breaking into a place with intent to commit another indictable offence

England & Wales

> A person is guilty of burglary if they enter any building or part of a building as a trespasser with intent to steal, inflict grievous bodily harm or do unlawful damage to the building or anything in it.

New Zealand

> burglary is a statute offence under section 231 of the Crimes Act 1961. Originally this was a codification of the common law offence, though from October 2004 the break element was removed from the definition and entry into the building (or ship), or a part of it, now only needed to be unauthorised.

It seems that in many places intent to commit another crime is a key.
But trespassing is (presumably in those jurisdictions) a crime.
AFAIK, trespassing per-se is usually not a crime in England. It is typically considered civil matter. It gets more complicated I think if you get told to leave and resist. And of course trespassing with intent to steal is a crime.

IANAL, just a random r/LegalAdviceUK lurker.

Trespassing is ignoring (sufficient) signs posted saying no trespassing, or refusing to leave when a person authorised to demand you leave asks it.

Something like that, I'm not a lawyer.

I can understand land, but isn't entering an actual building/home/garage without permission a crime even if it was unlocked? it seems like it should be, but my view is tainted by US law which is overly complicated and varies state to state about severity, but I'm pretty sure it's against the law in every state.
yeah, usually you get a forceful entry charge in addition. You can't just walk into someone's house even if their door is ajar or unlocked. I'm not sure if cracking it and say asking "is anyone here?", My guess it involves actually stepping into the house, for example you're worried about a neighbor if his door is standing open