State Codes and Statutes

Statutes > Connecticut > Title47 > Chap823 > Sec47-43

      Sec. 47-43. Proprietors to maintain. The proprietors of lands shall make and maintain sufficient fences to secure their particular fields. Within cities and adjacent to house lots, a tight board fence four and one-half feet high, an open picket fence four feet high, the opening between pickets not to exceed four inches, or a slat rail fence four feet high, the opening between slats not to exceed six inches, the lower slat not over six inches from the ground, a fence not less than four feet high of chain link galvanized wire not smaller than number nine gauge supported upon galvanized tubular steel posts set in concrete, all end and corner posts to be suitably braced, and all to be substantially erected, or any other fence which in the judgment of the selectmen or other officials charged with the duty of fence viewers is equal thereto, shall be a sufficient fence; in places outside of incorporated cities, a rail fence four and one-half feet high, a stone wall four feet high, suitably erected, a wire fence consisting of four strands not more than twelve inches apart, stretched tightly, the lower strand not more than twelve inches and the upper strand not less than four feet from the ground, with good substantial posts not more than sixteen feet apart, and any other fence which in the judgment of the selectmen is equal to such a rail fence, shall be a sufficient fence. Adjoining proprietors shall each make and maintain half of a divisional fence, the middle line of which shall be on the dividing line, and such fence shall not exceed in width, if a straight wood fence or hedge fence, two feet; if a brick or stone fence, three feet; if a crooked rail fence, six feet; and, if a ditch, eight feet, not including the bank, which shall be on the land of the maker. No ditch shall be made adjacent to a house lot without the consent of the owner of the house.

      (1949 Rev., S. 7155.)

      Duty of proprietors when the line is such that no fence can be made. 1 R. 269. A ditch named and treated as a boundary is regarded as a division fence. 6 C. 473. Rights of party repairing such ditch. Id., 474. What constitutes a divisional fence within the statute. 15 C. 135. Fence viewers are the sole judges of what is a sufficient fence. 24 C. 277. Terms "sufficient fence" and "ordinary fence" as used in the statute, construed. 37 C. 126, 127. Statute commented on. 52 C. 34. Hedge as a division fence; rights of adjoining proprietors as to trimming hedge. 108 C. 98. Cited. 181 C. 454.

      Cited. 46 CA 164.

      Privet hedge set out and cared for by defendant only having its middle line on her property from three inches to one and nine-tenths feet from boundary line held not division fence. 4 Conn. Cir. Ct. 196.