Fence law terms, in plain words
These words mean something narrower than they sound, and the narrow meaning is usually the one that decides the answer. Each entry says what the term covers and, where there is one, the trap in reading it the everyday way.
Words about a fence on the line
These come from statutes that are often two hundred years old, written for farms, and still in force in cities.
- Partition fence
A fence standing on the boundary between two owners, serving both of them. Most states have a statute saying how the cost of one is split, and many of those statutes reach only land used for farming or grazing.
The trap. A fence between two suburban back yards often falls outside the partition fence statute entirely, because the statute is written for enclosed agricultural land.
- Division fence
The same thing as a partition fence. Which word a state uses is a drafting accident, not a difference in law. Kentucky, Nebraska and Minnesota say division. Alabama, Iowa and Utah say partition.
- Fence viewers
Local officials who settle a boundary fence dispute without a lawsuit. They look at the fence, decide what share each owner owes, and issue a written order. In Iowa and Minnesota the township trustees serve as fence viewers; in Connecticut it is the town selectmen; in Idaho a magistrate judge appoints three of them.
The trap. The office still exists in statute in a dozen states. It is not a historical curiosity.
- Coterminous owners
Owners whose land touches. Older statutes use this instead of "adjoining", and it means the same thing.
- Just proportion
The share of a fence each neighbor owes. Some states fix it at half. Others, including West Virginia and Nebraska, leave it to what is fair in the circumstances, which means a court or the fence viewers decide.
Words about livestock, which is where fence law came from
Almost every state fence statute is an agriculture statute. Reading one as a rule about a back yard fence is the single most common mistake in this subject.
- Lawful fence
A fence built to a specification written into statute: a height, a number of wire strands, a post spacing. Colorado defines it as three barbed wires on posts about twenty feet apart. West Virginia calls for four feet and six strands. Hawaii calls for four feet, close built, capable of turning stock.
The trap. Lawful fence does not mean a fence that is legal to build. It means a fence good enough to hold or exclude livestock, and it decides who pays when an animal gets through. A six foot cedar privacy fence is not a lawful fence in most of these statutes, and it does not need to be.
- Open range
Unenclosed land outside cities where livestock graze by custom or permit. Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming all define it. On open range the animal owner generally owes nothing for an animal that wanders, including onto a highway.
- Fence out
The rule that a landowner who wants livestock kept off has to build the fence. Damages for a trespassing animal are only available if the land was already enclosed by a lawful fence.
- Fence in
The opposite rule, and the one in most eastern states. The animal owner is liable for what the animal does, whether or not the neighbor fenced.
- Herd district
An area carved out of open range, usually by petition to the county, where named animals may not run at large. Idaho and several other western states allow them, which means one county can run on both rules at once.
- Estray
A domestic animal found wandering with no known owner nearby. Several state fence chapters live inside the estray title, which is why a search for fence law turns up animal statutes.
Words about the fence a city actually regulates
Height, setback and visibility are municipal questions in almost every state. These are the words that appear in a zoning ordinance.
- Front yard
The area between the street-facing property line and the house. Fence height in a front yard is usually limited far more tightly than in a side or rear yard, and the front yard limit is the figure most people are looking for.
- Vision triangle
Also called a sight triangle, a corner visibility triangle, or a clear view area. A wedge of ground at a corner or a driveway where nothing above a stated height may stand, so a driver can see. Napa keeps its rule in the traffic title rather than the zoning title, which is how the fence chapter can point at a rule it never names.
- Setback
How far a structure has to sit from a property line. Many codes exempt fences from setbacks entirely and regulate them by height instead, which is why a fence can sit on the line when a shed cannot.
- Finished side
The smooth face of a fence, as opposed to the side showing posts and rails. Some ordinances require the finished side to face the neighbor or the street.
- Grade
The level of the ground a height is measured from. An ordinance that sets a height and never states a datum has left the most important question open, and several do.
- Retaining wall
A wall holding back earth. Codes often treat a fence on top of a retaining wall differently from a free standing fence, and a few split the rule further by whether the wall holds a cut or a fill.
Words about how the rule got there
Where a rule lives decides who can change it and how it is enforced. These terms come up on almost every page here.
- Adopted by reference
A state says a model code written by somebody else is now its law, without reprinting the text. Nearly every state adopts the International Residential Code this way.
The trap. This is why a permit exemption is often impossible to link. The statute that adopts the code is public and free. The code itself is copyrighted and sold, so the sentence that exempts a fence under seven feet is often not on any government website.
- Codified
Written into the statute book or the ordinance. An answer that lives only on a department web page or in a counter handout is not codified, and this site marks it so a reader can weigh it accordingly.
- Local amendment
A change a city makes to the statewide code. California requires a city to make an express written finding that a change is necessary for local climatic, geological or topographical reasons, and to file it with the state, before the change has any effect.
- Variance
Permission to do something the ordinance does not allow, granted case by case after a hearing. A variance is about one parcel and does not change the rule for anybody else.
- Nonconforming
A fence that was legal when built and does not meet the rule now. Most codes let it stand until it is replaced, which is why a street can hold fences that no longer match the ordinance.
- Spite fence
A fence built to annoy or harm a neighbor. Roughly twenty states have a statute on it, and they split into two shapes: some set a height that raises a presumption, and some turn entirely on proof of malice with no height at all. Connecticut is in the second group, in both of its two statutes.
The trap. A statute with no height means a tall fence is not automatically a spite fence, and a short one is not automatically safe. Intent is the question.
Where these words appear
Every term above comes out of a statute or an ordinance quoted somewhere on this site. Browse by state to see them in the documents they came from, or read how a finding gets made.