Line Fences 189 



man should care for his own, and that no man 

 should be compelled to purchase property that 

 he does not desire. Extracts from the New 

 York law follow: 



Each owner of two adjoining tracts of land shall make and 

 maintain a just and equitable portion of the division fence be- 

 tween such lands, unless one of such owners shall choose to let 

 his lands lie open to the use of all animals which may be lawfully 

 upon the other's land and does not permit any animals lawfully 

 upon his premises to go upon the lands so lying open. (The Town 

 Law, Section 100.) 



If a land owner wishes to allow his lands to lie open, he must 

 serve a written notice to that effect upon the adjoining land 

 owners, and thereafter such adjoining land owners shall not be 

 liable for any damage done by any of their animals going upon 

 the lands so allowed to lie open. The owner of any lands so 

 allowed to lie open may have the same enclosed by giving 

 written notice to that effect to adjoining land owners, and shall 

 refund to such adjoining owners his equitable portion of the value 

 of any division fence made and maintained by them; or, if no 

 fence has been so made, he shall build and maintain his proportion 

 of such division fence, (id. Section 101.) 



If disputes arise as to the liability to maintain division fences, 

 any two fence-viewers named, one by each party, may decide the 

 matter, (id. Section 103.) 



Any person who shall neglect to contribute to the erection or 

 repair of a division fence, shall be liable to the party injured for 

 all damages which two fence-viewers shall determine to have 

 accrued by such neglect, and if such neglect shall continue 

 beyond one month after written request to make or repair the 

 fence, the injured party may make or repair it and recover 

 its value, with costs, from the one who is in default, (id. Sec- 

 tions 105 and 108.) 



Barbed wire may not be used for line fences without consent, 

 (id. Section 109.) 



