Just a little wake up quiz. While in the field yesterday walking a boundary I found one of my favorite sites it a (...).
I imagine this fence was pretty common 150 years ago in the northeastern states.
Every once in awhile we find them and there is a recomended way to recontruct the boundary line along this fence style. To do it correctly is really labor intensive, so hopefully its a short line.
Forrest
Looks like the old "Worm," "Snake," or "Virginia Rail" fence discussed in A.C. Mulford's Boundaries and Landmarks. Some Maine old-timers would call it a "bunk rail fence." Mulford describes a rather elaborate process for finding an average line between the support stones (from which I infer that one must get a shot on each and every one). Good luck.
Here's Mulford's sketch:
I guess I don't have to scan the book.;-)
Yea, his methods are pretty labor intensive, but if you do them at the ends of a long line its not that bad. Unless you have angle points along the line:-(
I always wondered if he was the only one who did it this way???
Any physical evidence that the owners have relied on to mark the limits of their occupation and control marks the property line. The description might be simply 'along the existing fence whose general bearing is (B&D)', or it may need to recite each angle point or anything in between, depending on each individual case.
In the early days here in WI, an immigrant who didn't have much more than a team of oxen, a plow and money, bought a piece of land and plowed a furrow around the land he bought. That furrow marked the property line.
I believe these are examples of the boundaries of 'Every mode of passing realty by the act of the party, as distinguished from passing it by the operation of law.' spoken of in Black's definition of Alienation.
Alienation
In real property law, the transfer of the property and possession of lands, tenaments, or other things, from one person to another. The term is particularly applied to absolute conveyances of real property. The voluntary and complete transfer from one person to another. Disposition by will. Every mode of passing realty by the act of the party, as distinguished from passing it by the operation of law. See also Restraint on alienation.
Restraint on Alienation
A provision in an instrument of conveyance which prohibits the grantee from selling or transfering the property which is the subject of the conveyance. Most such restraints are unenforceable as against public policy and the law's policy of free alienability of land. See restrictive covenant.
Richard Schaut
What Mulford Was Explaining Was The Location Of The Stones
Had it been a fence of long standing the best location was the support stones. Wood on or close to the ground does not last long, the lower rails going first. To replace the lower rails the fence must be dismantled and reassembled. It is hard to be certain that it was replaced in the exact same spot. Support stones increase the probability of finding that spot. Take your shots at probable angle points, placing your next shot such that the line generally splits the rails. Be aware that sometimes a fence is only a fence. Building a worm fence totally on a parcel in no way cedes the area outside the rails to the adjoiner but merely gives cattle the license to eat the grass in the small area. For such a fence to indicate possession it would have to have been built and proven so by the encroacher.
What monuments have you found along the fence?
If there are monuments then that is what the owner relied on and the uncertain fence. Be careful about applying Judge Schaut's opinions to your own work.
Mumford practiced in an area where fences were generally built in common, ask Robert Frost about that.
In my opinion without stones that fence has no greater lifetime than the wood and is very likely to have been built for esthetic purposes (off the line) and not defining the line.
Paul in PA
Truth be told, most guys around here would set a pin at each end of the (perceived) centerline of the fence, MAYbe a pin at major angle points, and report that "irregular fence is boundary." And that would suffice for most (rural) purposes.
Mulford is or was available for free at openlibrary.org but their server seems to be down just now.
> Truth be told, most guys around here would set a pin at each end of the (perceived) centerline of the fence, MAYbe a pin at major angle points, and report that "irregular fence is boundary." And that would suffice for most (rural) purposes.
>
> Mulford is or was available for free at openlibrary.org but their server seems to be down just now.
Read it HERE
In MT they're called a cross-buck fence. I've seen a few of them here in UT. I think they're called the same here. At least that's what this MT boy still calls them.
JBS
