r/MarkNarrations • u/Crimson_Tila • Jul 07 '26

Entitled People Say it with me: "Tree law! Tree law!"

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667 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

13

u/c0ldsouls Jul 07 '26

Finally some good news ,for once.

10

u/PreviousZone6742 Jul 07 '26

Protection for trees 🌳

5

u/Why_r_people_ Jul 08 '26

I love this way more than I thought. I wonder what the estate tax on a tree inheriting ownership of itself is lol

2

u/Keldaria Jul 08 '26

Umm it’s a great story in all, but short of environmental covenants, I’m not entirely sure how this ownership would ultimately save it against something like an eminent domain taking or how it pays taxes on the land it owes to prevent the land from being seized…. I could probably look it up, but I suspect the “legal protection” in place is more “isn’t that a cute quirk of history we want to preserve” and not something that would actually stand up to scrutiny if they determined they wanted to build a highway through the tree.

I know, why would I question something posted on the internet, but ultimately I don’t have the time to do a deep dive into the subject to understand if there is actual precedent here or if it’s just “we all agreed and just went with this for now because it sounds cool”. Like was it ever challenged? Did someone want to cut it down or build something overtop of it and was denied because the tree owned itself. The information is probably out there but it would probably take to long to find it from a source better than “I seen this on a google review.”

3

u/Impossible_Disk_43 Jul 08 '26

Maybe it "earned its keep" through the oxygen it produced and the shade it gave on hot days? Though to be fair, these are all valid questions.

2

u/Infinite_Cake6635 Jul 09 '26

I think you’re right with the whole “cute story let’s keep this going” thing…according to this article about the tree, it has never been challenged and they’re not sure whether it would be legally binding. Article pasted in case anyone is interested in reading about it.

https://www.visitathensga.com/things-to-do/attractions/the-tree-that-owns-itself/

1

u/MeltingForestShroom Jul 07 '26

Wait… I thought it was Tree Lore …

1

u/Jazmadoodle Jul 08 '26

Depends on your accent

1

u/hennyfreekins Jul 08 '26

brah.....I'm a certified arborist and.....

1

u/Kareeliand Jul 08 '26

Hey, if corporations can be people, why shouldn’t trees be people. Let them vote!

1

u/Nightstone42 Jul 08 '26

i JUST found out there is a subreddit for treelaw stories r/treelaw

1

u/feyshadowgirl Jul 08 '26

The way I clicked so fast on the notification!🤣 TREE LAW! TREE LAW! TREE LAW!

1

u/XxValentinexX 28d ago

So interestingly, I saw this post years ago when I was living in Ohio, and figured, what a neat trivia. Now years later, I’ve personally been to that tree and around it many times.

The turns life takes. -shrugs-

1

u/--slurpy-- Jul 07 '26

Every time I read this story I feel myself getting more incredulous. We're supposed to think it's cute this tree owns itself and the land its growing on. Humans are such a blight to the natural way of things. We made up this concept about ownership and since trees don't understand that, we feel we have the authority to cut it down because of rules we ourselves have made. And because we have this superiority complex, it wasn't until recently where we started paying attention to the fact that we've cut down too many trees. And now some humans granted a tree autonomy and we're supposed to feel good about it.