Louisiana Trespassing Laws: Penalties, Posting, and Defenses

Louisiana trespassing laws are found mainly in Title 14 of the Revised Statutes, and they treat trespass as a crime with penalties that range from a $100 fine for a first offense up to six years in prison for entering an occupied home. The state separates general criminal trespass from unauthorized entry of a dwelling, a business, or critical infrastructure, and it gives property owners several tools to keep intruders off their land, remove them, and recover damages.

What Counts as Criminal Trespass

Under RS 14:63, three acts qualify as criminal trespass: entering a structure, watercraft, or movable belonging to someone else without authorization; entering another person’s land without authorization; and remaining on someone’s property after authorization has expired or been revoked.¹ Authorization can be express, implied, or legal. That last category covers people entering under a statutory right, like utility workers or government officials.

The same statute addresses squatters. A squatter is anyone staying on property they have no right to possess, own, occupy, or lease. Their continued presence becomes criminal trespass once a lawful possessor tells them to leave — verbally, in writing, or through posted signs stating the property is private and trespassing is prohibited.¹ No court order is required to make the offense chargeable, but some form of notice is.

Penalties for General Criminal Trespass

Penalties under RS 14:63 escalate with each conviction:

First offense: a fine of $100 to $500, up to 30 days in jail, or both.¹
Second offense: a fine of $750 to $1,500, 30 days to six months in jail, or both.²
Third and subsequent offenses: a fine of $1,000 to $2,000, 60 days to one year in jail, or both.²

The mandatory minimums kick in at the second conviction. A second offense guarantees at least a $750 fine or 30 days in jail, and a third guarantees at least $1,000 or 60 days. When a trespasser damages property during the offense, the court can order restitution covering repair or replacement costs on top of the criminal penalty.

Unauthorized Entry of a Dwelling, Business, or Critical Infrastructure

Some entries are prosecuted under separate statutes that carry felony-level penalties without any prior conviction required.

Inhabited Dwellings

Under RS 14:62.3, intentionally entering a home or other structure used as a residence without authorization is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment with or without hard labor for up to six years, or both.³ Hard labor eligibility makes this a felony rather than a misdemeanor. The gap between 30 days for basic trespass and six years for entering a dwelling reflects how sharply Louisiana distinguishes the two.

Places of Business

RS 14:62.4 mirrors the dwelling statute for commercial premises. Intentional unauthorized entry into a place of business carries the same maximum: up to $1,000 in fines and up to six years of imprisonment with or without hard labor, or both.⁴

Critical Infrastructure

Unauthorized entry of critical infrastructure under RS 14:61 also reaches a $1,000 fine and up to six years of imprisonment with or without hard labor, or both. The statute expressly preserves the First Amendment right to lawful assembly and orderly petition, so peaceful protest activity near critical infrastructure does not automatically fall within the offense.

How to Legally Post Property

Louisiana gives owners two ways to put trespassers on notice. RS 14:63.3 recognizes traditional signs and purple paint marks on trees or posts as legally sufficient notice.⁵ The paint option is practical for rural landowners who would otherwise need dozens of signs across a long boundary.

To be effective, purple paint marks must meet three specifications:

Vertical lines at least eight inches long and one inch wide.
Placed between three and five feet above the ground.
Spaced no more than 100 feet apart on forest land, or no more than 1,000 feet apart on other land.⁵

Signs are equally valid but must be placed where a reasonable person approaching the property would see them. For the general criminal trespass statute (RS 14:63), you can also give verbal or written notice directly to a specific person, so posting is not the only path if you know who the trespasser is.

When a Property Owner Can Use Force

Louisiana permits reasonable force to prevent trespass or remove a trespasser, but the rules shift depending on where the encounter happens.

RS 14:19 allows a person to use force or violence to prevent a trespass on property in their lawful possession, provided the force is reasonable and apparently necessary to stop the offense.⁶ This covers physically blocking or removing someone from your land. Proportionality is the limit. A minor trespass does not justify serious violence.

The calculus changes when someone forces entry into an occupied home, business, or vehicle. Louisiana’s Castle Doctrine creates a legal presumption that a person inside a dwelling or business who uses force against an unlawful intruder held a reasonable belief that force was necessary.⁶ The presumption applies when the intruder was forcibly entering or had already forcibly entered. Louisiana also imposes no duty to retreat: someone lawfully present anywhere they have a right to be may stand their ground rather than flee before using defensive force.

Neither rule licenses indiscriminate harm. Deadly force is governed by a separate justifiable-homicide analysis under RS 14:20, and the Castle Doctrine presumption reaches only forcible, unlawful entries. A trespasser walking across a pasture is not the same situation as one breaking through a front door.

Defenses to a Trespassing Charge

A few defenses come up regularly in Louisiana trespass cases.

Authorization or Implied Consent

RS 14:63 requires that entry be “without express, legal, or implied authorization.”¹ If property has been routinely open to the public without objection, a claim of implied consent may hold. Delivery workers, mail carriers, and anyone responding to an invitation to approach the premises generally have implied authorization to use normal access points. Posting “No Trespassing” signs revokes that consent for the general public, though a delivery driver bringing a package to the address arguably retains a limited permission for that purpose.

Necessity

Entering someone’s property to escape imminent danger can qualify as necessity. Common scenarios include fleeing a car accident, a natural disaster, or an attacking animal. Courts weigh whether the trespasser’s actions were reasonable and whether the threatened harm outweighed the intrusion. The defense fails if a reasonable alternative existed that did not involve entering private property.

Mistake of Fact

A genuine, reasonable belief that you had permission or that the land was yours can defeat the charge. Boundary disputes are the classic setting: a neighbor walks onto land they honestly believed was inside their line. The belief must be sincere and objectively reasonable. “I didn’t see the signs” is weaker than “the surveyor’s map showed this parcel as mine.”

Civil Remedies for Property Owners

Criminal charges are not the only option. Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315 sets the baseline: anyone whose fault causes damage to another is obligated to repair it.⁷ Recoverable damages include any sales taxes paid on repairing or replacing damaged property, along with the direct repair costs.

A civil trespass claim can seek compensation for physical damage to land or structures, lost use of the property during the interference, and diminished value if the damage is lasting. Owners can also request injunctive relief, meaning a court order barring the trespasser from returning. Injunctions are especially useful against repeat offenders because violating one triggers contempt penalties on top of any fresh trespassing charges.

Landowner Liability When a Trespasser Gets Hurt

Louisiana follows the traditional rule that landowners owe trespassers almost no duty of care. The firm obligation is not to intentionally or recklessly harm them. You are not required to make your property safe for people who have no right to be there, and you are generally not liable for hazards a trespasser stumbles into on their own.

Children are the main exception. Under the attractive nuisance doctrine, a landowner can be liable for injuries to trespassing children caused by dangerous artificial conditions on the land, such as unfenced swimming pools, abandoned machinery, or construction sites. Liability attaches when the owner knows or should know children are likely to trespass, the condition poses an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, and the children would not appreciate the danger.⁸ Courts apply the doctrine narrowly and generally exclude common features like fences, walls, or bodies of water that children would recognize as dangerous. Louisiana’s comparative fault rules also matter: even where a landowner bears some responsibility, the trespasser’s own fault in being on the property illegally reduces any recovery, and in many cases eliminates it.

Two Limits Worth Knowing

State trespass law does not reach every piece of ground inside Louisiana. Trespassing on federal property — military installations, naval bases, Coast Guard facilities, and Bureau of Land Management tracts — is prosecuted under federal law with its own penalty scheme, including up to six months in federal jail for entering a military installation for a prohibited purpose or after being ordered to leave.⁹ BLM trespass carries civil penalties for investigation costs, back rent, and rehabilitation, with willful violations doubling the rent penalty and knowing violations exposing the trespasser to criminal fines up to $1,000 and up to 12 months of imprisonment.¹⁰

Trespass law also does not always keep police off private land. Under the Open Fields Doctrine, the Fourth Amendment does not protect open fields, pastures, wooded areas, or vacant lots from warrantless police entry, even when the property is fenced and posted. Protection extends to the “curtilage,” the area immediately surrounding the home, based on four factors: proximity to the house, whether the space is inside the same enclosure, its use, and the steps taken to shield it from public view.¹¹ A backyard patio likely qualifies. A back forty almost certainly does not.

1
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 14-63 – Criminal Trespass; Squatters
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14-63 – Criminal Trespass; Squatters
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14-62.3 – Unauthorized Entry of an Inhabited Dwelling
4
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 14-62.4 – Unauthorized Entry of a Place of Business
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14-63.3 – Entry on or Remaining on Places or Land After Being Forbidden
6
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 14-19 – Use of Force or Violence in Defense
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Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Civil Code Art. 2315 – Liability for Acts Causing Damages
8
Legal Information Institute. Attractive Nuisance Doctrine
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1382 – Entering Military, Naval, or Coast Guard Property
10
eCFR. 43 CFR 2808.11 – What Will BLM Do if It Determines That I Am in Trespass
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Legal Information Institute. Open Fields Doctrine