LAW FOR THE FARMER 309 



or not ; or, if you have a fence, whether it be suflScient or not, that 

 person is liable in an action of trespass, and there is a lien upon 

 the beasts for all the damage they do, whether you proceed by 

 iropounding or go to some good, honest lawyer and get out a writ 

 of trespass. 



I might remark, that by the statute, these rules of division of 

 fences do not apply to village lots, and other lots which do not 

 exceed a half acre. But in cases where the owner improves his 

 lot, the adjacent proprietor is obliged to build one-half the fence 

 whether he improves or not. I have thought it might be well, al- 

 though it is perhaps a digression from my principal subject, to advert 

 to the matter of boundaries between adjacent proprietors, in rela- 

 tion to the building of fences. Most of you understand that where a 

 man goes on a piece of land, without the consent of the owner, 

 and holds it openly, notoriously, peaceably, exclusivelj^ but ad- 

 versely, for twenty years, under our laws, he becomes the owner 

 of that land ordinarily. This is is not strictly prescription, be- 

 cause prescription is of an incorporeal hereditament ; in other 

 words, prescription is of a right of way, or the right to draw 

 water, or the like ; but it is gaining a title by long continued tres- 

 pass. If I go on A's land, by his consent, and stay there forty 

 years, I do not thereby get a title ; but if I am a little more 

 wicked, and go on without his consent, and stay there peaceably, 

 openly and quietly, and hold notoriously adverse and exclusive 

 possession, and continue that possession twenty years, I own the 

 land, and he, through his laches, has lost it. 



I do not know how many times the question has been asked me, 

 but probably about twenty -five times a year, whether a man has lost 

 his land in this way, where a division fence has been built a little 

 off from the line — an accidental deviation from the true line. I 

 alwaj'^s answer no, because such possession lacks the elements I 

 have named — open, peaceable, notoriously adverse, and exclu- 

 sive possession. Suppose one or both parties are mistaken, and 

 there is no adverse possession ; it is a mere mistake, and no title 

 is gained or lost. 



Another rule is, that parties should be very careful when they are 

 building a division fence to build it upon the true line. The ava- 

 ricious man frequently gets caught in the meshes of his own 

 selfishness, in building a line fence. If I am building a division 

 fence between myself and ray neighbor, and there is a little uncer- 

 tainty about the line, I will build it a foot inside of my own line 



