daf bit: Bava Batra 27

[cellio]

If a man's tree overhangs the boundary with his neighbor's field, the neighbor may cut away branches to a height that allows him to use his plow. If the tree is a carob or sycamore he can cut all branches plumb with the boundary, because these trees are excessively shady. If the field is irrigated he can cut all branches plumb regardless of the type of tree, because the shade harms the field. (27b)

The g'mara here does not address ownership of the cut wood (or fruit, if in season). In a previous discussion of roots that encroach a neighbor's field, the g'mara said that the neighbor may cut the roots and he owns the wood. I would suspect, therefore, that he owns the wood of the branches, but I don't know if that applies to fruit. Roots or branches don't change, but fruit comes and goes. If the neighbor waits until the tree bears fruit to complain, knowing that he'll get the fruit, wouldn't that raise questions? I would not be surprised if he doesn't get the fruit. And it's possible that he doesn't get the wood either for similar reasons; with the roots he doesn't know the quality of the wood until he digs (and the soil itself might do damage there), but he can see the branches. See -- I can postulate reasoning consistent with the rabbis; I just don't know the answers. :-)

Comments

[kmelion.livejournal.com]

This is pretty timely. One of our nextdoor neighbors has a palm tree and some of the branches (mostly dead) overhangs into our yard. Normally it wouldn't be an issue but... it will also be right over part of our Sukkah and that would invalidate those spots...

[cellio]

That would be a problem, yes.

I don't know if you can reason about the sukkah from the field here. It might come down to the question of whether there is any other place you can put your sukkah. The rabbis might argue that it's easier to move a sukkah than a cultivated field. I'm not saying I agree with them; I'm just raising the question. Consult your rabbi, etc.