§ 11-44-2 Injury or removal of vegetation
– Buildings and fences. –
Every person who shall take and carry away, without the consent of the owner,
any corn, grain, fruit, or growing vegetable out of any field, garden, or
orchard, or who shall willfully and without the consent of the owner root up,
cut down, or otherwise injure or destroy or take and carry away any tree or
underwood growing or standing upon the land of another, or remove any cord
wood, or shall maliciously root up, cut down, or otherwise injure or destroy
any tree, root, fruit, or vegetable growing in any garden, field, orchard,
highway, common, or public square, or who shall take and carry away, without
the consent of the owner, any cultivated plant, tree, or shrub from any
graveyard or from any public or private grounds, or who shall wantonly or
maliciously injure or destroy any plant or shrub growing upon the land or in
the building of another, or who shall poison the earth about any plant or shrub
so as to prevent or injure its growth, or who shall maliciously or wantonly in
any way injure or deface any building not his or her own, or break the glass or
any part of it in any building, or shall maliciously injure any fence or stone
wall on or enclosing lands not his or her own, shall be imprisoned not
exceeding one year or be fined not exceeding triple the value of the damage or
one thousand dollars ($1,000), whichever is lower; and shall be required to pay
the party injured a penalty not to exceed triple the value of the damage caused
by the person; provided, that if any person shall knowingly use or permit to be
used any vehicle for the commission of any of the offenses enumerated in this
section, he or she shall also be penalized in the manner specified in title 31.
(G.L. 1896, ch. 279, § 23; P.L. 1900, ch. 736, § 1; C.P.A. 1905,
§ 1177; G.L. 1909, ch. 345, § 23; G.L. 1923, ch. 397, § 23; P.L.
1928, ch. 1215, § 1; G.L. 1938, ch. 608, § 23; G.L. 1956, §
11-44-2; P.L. 1980, ch. 276, § 2; P.L. 1982, ch. 237, § 1; P.L. 1992,
ch. 426, § 1.)