yesterday after a Magistrate said prosecutors could not prove they knew they were breaking the law.

But Acting Senior Magistrate Edward King warned Robert Eugene Burns and Richard Benjamin -- both of no fixed abode -- not to "pitch your tent'' on the Nurses Association property on Union Street.

"I'm satisfied that there was entry onto the property,'' Mr. King said.

"I find there was a trespass but I'm going to bind you over to be of good behaviour for three months.

"Mr. Burns, you know the piece of land we're talking about? Yes?'' he continued. "Then you have it from me, Eddie King, you do not go on that or any land that you know you shouldn't be.'' Mr. King added: "This is not a conviction, for if after three months you don't come back in here, this file will get destroyed.'' During Mr. Burns' appearance -- who was charged first -- Mr. King told the court the law was archaic and asked how could a person be charged with not following a sign if they could not read.

He added with a shrug: "It's like when they were putting up that building, Capital G or H or whatever. That big sign they had. Who's to say a person doesn't read English well or have another language?'' Burns and Benjamin were formally charged with entering the Nurses Association land and disobeying a posted notice forbidding trespassing.

Mr. King asked both men if they were guilty and had seen any signs, and both men responded: "Yes, but I never saw any signs.'' When Burns responded, Mr. King said: "Sweet and Parsley (a law text) says the mind must be affected before the law must be transgressed.

"I verily believe this man when he says he did not see any sign and I can't see how the Crown can establish that he did,'' he added.