Paul Goeringer

Since presumably the time of the first humans, we have used fences or other barriers to keep our animals in, keep our enemies out, or just to mark a parcel of land so we can say, "This is mine." Today, fence and boundary laws are a pillar of rural and agricultural law, and while we might therefore expect some clarity, the reality is that these laws can and do vary widely from region to region, state to state, even from county to county.

To help us make sense of it all, we've called on Professor Paul Goeringer with the University of Maryland.

Professor Gehringer is the extension legal specialist and managing director of the Agricultural Law Education Initiative.

He spends his days advising on all aspects of ag law, from succession planning to agritourism to eminent domain and fence laws.

Paul Goeringer, really it was only as I was kind of studying up for this episode did it occur to me how fences are such a part of, of Americana.

I mean, don't fence me in, good fences make good neighbors, um, the, all the framed examples of the different kinds of barbed wire that seem to be in every ranch office I've ever been in, uh, barbed wire hat bands, bicep tattoos.

What is it with our fascination with fences?

Right.