Line Fences 187 



when bounded by a line in non-navigable waters, 

 the owners must agree on the location of a divi- 

 sion fence along the water, or the fence -viewers 

 will locate it on one bank or the other and pre- 

 scribe the method of maintenance. A substan- 

 tially similar rule applies in most of the other 

 states. 



When fruit or nut trees overhang a line fence, 

 the owner has no right to enter upon the lands of 

 his neighbor and gather the crop. The proper 

 procedure is to ask permission to enter and 

 gather the fruit which has fallen beyond the line. 

 If this permission be refused, there are two 

 courses open to the one on whose land the trunk 

 of the tree stands: he may enter and gather 

 the crops and stand liable for trespass; or, it has 

 been said, he may sue his neighbor who has 

 refused permission to enter for a conversion of 

 the fruit and so recover its value. If the neigh- 

 bor takes the fruit from the branches which over- 

 hang his land, he is liable for conversion. But 

 the neighbor, upon the other hand, may cut down 

 the soil upon the line, severing the roots of the 

 tree. He may also cut off, upon the line, all pro- 

 jecting or overhanging limbs. When such a tree 

 grows upon the line, the rule of law is that each 

 adjacent owner takes what falls upon his side of 

 the line. All these conditions follow from the 

 rule that one owning the surface of the land 



