Choquette v. Perrault

Subliminally it might appear that the defendants are challenging the adage: Good fences make good neighbors. The issue they raise on appeal, however, is whether a provision of the Vermont fence laws, 24 V.S.A. § 3802, exceeds the police power of the state in compelling a landowner who has no livestock to contribute equally in building and maintaining a division fence to keep the abutting landowner’s livestock from straying at large.

Plaintiffs, who own a large dairy farm and pasture their land abutting the defendants, brought this suit, pursuant to 24 V.S.A. § 3808 and/or 24 V.S.A. § 3816, to…