Law Dictionary

curtilage

1. Originally, the land with the castle and out-houses, inclosed often with high walls, where the old barons sometimes held court in the open air. Whence court-yard. 2. The court-yard in the front or rear of a house, or at its side; any piece of ground lying near, inclosed, used with, and necessary for the convenient occupation of the house, People v. Gedney, 10 Hun 151 (1877). A fence or inclosure of a small piece of land around a dwelling-house, usually including the buildings occupied in connection with the dwelling-house, the inclosure consisting of either a separate fence or partly of a fence and partly of the exterior of buildings so within the inclosure, 140 Mass. 289.

Source : William C. Anderson, A Dictionary of Law (1893)

Language : English

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