Also known as: enclosures · enclosed · enclosing · enclosure acts · enclosure movement
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An area of land or space bounded by a fence, wall, or other barrier designed to exclude intruders or contain persons or things.
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Elliot Edmonds slips through a gap in the chain-link fence surrounding a warehouse at night. He intends to steal electronics stored inside the enclosed yard. Police arrest him before he reaches the building. The entry into the enclosure satisfies the substantial-step requirement for attempted burglary.
Ezra Eastman, awaiting execution, develops a fixed belief that prison guards are hiding hostages inside concrete enclosures used as beds. He refuses medication and legal assistance because of this delusion. The court evaluates whether the enclosures figure in his competency determination.
Esme Ellington refuses a housing inspector entry into the fenced backyard of her home. The inspector seeks to check for code violations visible only from inside the enclosure. She challenges the warrantless inspection on Fourth Amendment grounds.
Empire Logistics seeks a permit to operate an adult theater. The city conditions approval on enclosing the premises with a solid fence to shield neighboring properties. The company challenges the enclosure mandate as an unconstitutional restriction.
Elysium Media plans to open multiple theaters in one neighborhood. The ordinance requires each site to maintain a surrounding enclosure and minimum distance from other adult uses. The company argues the enclosure rule burdens protected expression.
Emmett Egan erects a fence around his coastal parcel to create an enclosure for livestock. The state coastal council denies the permit, claiming the enclosure would destroy the land's economic use. Egan sues alleging a regulatory taking.
Yes. Model Penal Code § 5.01(2)(d) expressly lists unlawful entry of a structure, vehicle, or enclosure in which the crime is contemplated as a substantial step supporting attempt liability.
Supporting sources
Courts consider whether the area lies inside an enclosure surrounding the home as one of four factors. Inclusion within such an enclosure supports classifying the area as curtilage protected by the Fourth Amendment.
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A person with a privilege to enter land may break a fence or other enclosure when reasonably necessary to accomplish the purpose of the privilege, such as abating a nuisance or reclaiming goods.
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…to have paid compensation when it built a state-owned road across unimproved land. Legislatures provided compensation only for enclosed or improved land." Treanor, 94 Yale L. J., at 695 (footnotes omitted). This rule was followed by some States into the 1800's. See Horwitz 63-65. With similar result, the common agrarian…