Also known as: fences · fenced · fencing · receiver of stolen goods
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A barrier or enclosure constructed on land to mark boundaries, restrict access, or contain livestock or persons. The structure may give rise to privileges of maintenance and repair or affect claims of privilege to enter land.
A person who receives stolen goods knowing or believing them to be stolen. The receiver may be graded as a felon when the activity constitutes a business of buying or selling such property.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A barrier or enclosure constructed on land to mark boundaries, restrict access, or contain livestock or persons. The structure may give rise to privileges of maintenance and repair or affect claims of privilege to enter land.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A person who receives stolen goods knowing or believing them to be stolen. The receiver may be graded as a felon when the activity constitutes a business of buying or selling such property.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Floyd Franklin sold land to Felicia Fuentes under a contract that required Franklin to build a boundary fence after closing. Fuentes accepted the deed at closing without the fence clause appearing in it. When Franklin refused to build the fence, Fuentes sued for breach. The court held that the independent promise survived merger because the parties did not intend it to merge into the deed.
Police flew a fixed-wing aircraft at one thousand feet over Faye Fuller's property and observed marijuana plants growing inside her fenced backyard with the naked eye. Fuller moved to suppress the evidence as the product of an unlawful search. The court denied the motion because any member of the public flying in lawful airspace could have seen the same things.
An officer pursued a burglary suspect who reached a six-foot chain-link fence at the edge of a yard. The suspect began to climb the fence after being ordered to halt. The officer shot the suspect to prevent escape over the fence, leading to a constitutional challenge to the use of deadly force.
A railroad company challenged a city ordinance that required it to fence its tracks running through an urban area. The company argued the requirement constituted a taking without compensation. The Court upheld the ordinance as a valid exercise of police power that did not require compensation.
Members of a church group staged a demonstration on a small plot of public land behind a temporary fence one thousand feet from a funeral. The fenced area kept the picketers separated from the church and cemetery. Families of the deceased later sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from the protest.
A transportation company challenged New York City's landmark designation of its terminal building, which restricted alterations including any fencing that would change the structure's appearance. The company claimed the restrictions amounted to a taking. The Court analyzed whether the regulation went too far under the Takings Clause.
No. Promises independent of the conveyance, such as an agreement to build a fence, may survive merger when the court finds the parties did not intend them to merge into the deed.
Supporting sources
It is not a search when the aircraft flies in lawful airspace and the officer uses only the naked eye, because any member of the public could have seen the same things.
Supporting sources
The offense is graded as a felony of the third degree when the receiver is in the business of buying or selling stolen property, even if the total value does not exceed the monetary threshold.
Supporting sources
…his property, had taken the owner’s property. The Court assumed that the Government could constitutionally require the owner to fence his land or take other action to prevent his cattle from straying onto others’ land without compensating him. “Such laws might be considered as strictly regulations of the use of…