Curtilage

In common law, the curtilage of a house or dwelling is the land immediately surrounding it, including any closely associated buildings and structures, but excluding any associated "open fields beyond". In feudal times every castle with its dependent buildings was protected by a surrounding wall, and all the land within the wall was termed the curtilage.^[1] The term excludes any closely associated buildings, structures, or divisions that contain the separate intimate activities of their own respective occupants, with those occupying residents being persons other than those residents of the house or dwelling of which the building is associated.^[2]

In some legal jurisdictions, the curtilage of a dwelling forms an exterior boundary, within which a home owner can have a reasonable expectation of privacy and where "intimate home activities" take place. It is a basic legal concept underlying the concepts of search and seizure, conveyancing of real property, burglary, trespass, self-defense, and land use planning.

In urban properties, the location of the curtilage may be self-evident from the position of fences or walls. For larger, more rural properties, it may be a matter of debate as to where the private area ends and the "open fields" start.^[3]

^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Curtilage". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 651.
^ "STATE v. HAMILTON 290 P.3d 271 (2012) Leagle.com". Leagle. October 3, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2016. By definition, a separate and independent residence cannot be part of the curtilage of another residence, because each separate residence contains the intimate activities of its own respective occupants.
^ "Legal briefing - The extent of listing 3". Context 97. Sweet & Maxwell. November 2006. Archived from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2011-05-10. Sir Graham Eyre QC, sitting as deputy judge, considered that in determining the nature and extent of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse, it is important that it should serve the purposes of the dwelling in some necessary or useful manner ... On the facts in this case, the rough part of the garden could not be described as part of the curtilage of the cottage, since it did not serve the cottage... One definition of curtilage often cited is 'the ground which is used for the comfortable enjoyment of the house or building... serving the purpose of the house or building in some necessary or reasonably useful way'. This formulation, from Sinclair-Lockhart's Trustees v Central Land Board (1951), is not very precise...

[1] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Curtilage". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 651.

[2] "STATE v. HAMILTON 290 P.3d 271 (2012) Leagle.com". Leagle. October 3, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2016. By definition, a separate and independent residence cannot be part of the curtilage of another residence, because each separate residence contains the intimate activities of its own respective occupants.

[3] "Legal briefing - The extent of listing 3". Context 97. Sweet & Maxwell. November 2006. Archived from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2011-05-10. Sir Graham Eyre QC, sitting as deputy judge, considered that in determining the nature and extent of the curtilage of a dwellinghouse, it is important that it should serve the purposes of the dwelling in some necessary or useful manner ... On the facts in this case, the rough part of the garden could not be described as part of the curtilage of the cottage, since it did not serve the cottage... One definition of curtilage often cited is 'the ground which is used for the comfortable enjoyment of the house or building... serving the purpose of the house or building in some necessary or reasonably useful way'. This formulation, from Sinclair-Lockhart's Trustees v Central Land Board (1951), is not very precise...

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