Curtilage - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition curtilage

Definition :

Curtilage [fr. Cour, Fr., court; and leagh, Sax., place], a courtyard, backside, or piece of ground lying near and belonging to a dwelling-house [see Pilbrow v. Vestry of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, (1895) 1 QB 433]; the limit of the premises in which house-breaking can be committed. See (English) Larceny Act, 1916, s. 46 (2), by which no building, though within the curtilage, is to be deemed part of a dwelling-house to constitute burglary, unless therebe a communication between such building and the dwelling-house.

Curtilage, as limited to the immediate area surrounding a building, Skerritts Ltd. v. Secretary of State (CA), (2003) 3 WLR 511.

Of a mansion house, an area which no conveyancer would extend beyond that occupied by the house, the stables and other outbuildings. The gardens and the rough grass up to the ha-ha, if there was one (According to Nourse LJ), Skerritts of Nottingham Ltd. v. Secretary of State (CA), (2001) QB LR 59.

Curtilage, has been described as a courtyard, back-side or piece of ground lying near or belonging to the premises, Pilbrow v. St. Leonard, Shoreditch, Vestry, (1895) 1 QB 33.