Chapter 29, FENCES

29-101. Enclosure of domestic animals with fence required. All domestic animals, other than cats and dogs, shall be enclosed with a fence sufficiently close, composed of posts and rails, posts and palings, posts and planks or palisades, posts and wire, rails alone, laid up in the…

29-102. Construction and composition of fences. All fences composed of posts and rails, posts and palings, posts and planks, or palisades, or of stone, or composed of posts and wires, or those composed of turf, shall be at least four feet high. Those composed of rails, commonly c…

29-103. Fences composed of posts and wires. In fences composed of posts and wires, the posts shall be of ordinary size for fencing purposes, and set in the ground at least two feet deep and not more than twelve feet apart, with holes through the posts or staples on the side not m…

29-104. What deemed legal and sufficient fences. Fences of the material and of the height and sufficiency aforesaid, and all brooks, rivers, creeks, ditches and constructions which shall be equivalent thereto, in the judgment of the fence viewers within whose jurisdiction the sam…

29-105. Barbed-wire fence deemed legal fence; construction. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), and in addition to fence declared by law to be a legal fence, the following shall be a legal fence: A barbed-wire fence, of not less than three wires, with the third wi…

29-106. Fencing extensive tracts in certain counties; gates and hitching posts. That whenever any person, persons or corporations shall fence and enclose extensive tracts of land of one hundred acres or over in extent for grazing purposes in the counties of Barber, Pratt, and Rus…

29-107. Penalty for interfering with such fence or leaving gates open. Any person who shall willfully molest or interfere with said fence or enclosure described in K.S.A. 29-106, by cutting wires or otherwise mutilating or tearing down said fence, or who shall willfully leave ope…

29-108. Declaration of policy relating to domestic animal trespass; liability for damages. It is hereby declared that the policy of this state with respect to domestic animal trespass shall be that all such animals shall be enclosed by a lawful fence. It is further declared that,…

29-109. Electric fence deemed legal fence; construction and composition. (a) In addition to fences otherwise declared by law to be a legal fence, an electrically charged wire fence with at least one 14 gauge wire or its equivalent not more than 48 inches from the ground and which…

29-201. County commissioners as fence viewers; designees. The board of county commissioners, in each county in this state, or their designees, shall be fence viewers in each township of such county. Any action taken by the board pursuant to K.S.A. 29-201 et seq., and amendments t…

29-202. Penalty for neglect of duty. Any fence viewer who shall, when requested, unreasonably neglect to view any fence or to perform any duty required of him in this act, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars, and shall also be liable to the party injured for all damages …

29-203. Compensation and expenses. Each fence viewer shall be entitled to receive seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) as full compensation for each fence viewed, to be paid in the first instance by the party or parties requiring the services; and all expenses of the view shall …

29-301. Maintenance. The owners of adjoining lands shall keep up and maintain in good repair all partition fences between them in equal shares, so long as both parties continue to occupy or improve such lands, unless otherwise agreed. History: G.S. 1868, ch. 40, § 8; October 31; …

29-302. Neglect to repair or rebuild. If any party neglect to repair or rebuild a partition fence, or the portion thereof which he ought to maintain, the aggrieved party may complain to the fence viewers, who, after due notice to each party, shall examine the same, and if they de…

29-303. Complainant may repair or rebuild, when; recovery; attorney's fee. If such fence be not repaired or rebuilt accordingly, the complainant may repair or rebuild it, and the same being adjudged sufficient by the fence viewers, and the value thereof, with their fees, being as…

29-304. Controversies; settlement by fence viewers. When any controversy shall arise about the rights of the respective owners in partition fences, or their obligations to keep up and maintain the same in good repair, and if they cannot agree among themselves, either party may ap…

29-305. Failure to erect or maintain assigned part; recovery of cost and attorney's fee. If a party neglect or refuse to erect or maintain the part of the fence assigned him by the fence viewers, it may be erected and maintained by the aggrieved party in the manner before provide…

29-306. Assignment of viewers; agreement between owners of adjoining land; recordation. All assignments of the fence viewers shall be certified and signed by them and shall contain a certain description of the lands divided by such partition fence and the names of the owners ther…

29-307. Party building more than his share. When in any controversy between owners of adjoining lands as to their respective rights in any partition fence, it shall appear to the fence viewers that either of the owners had, before any complaint made to them, voluntarily erected t…

29-308. Partition fences to be kept in good repair. All partition fences shall be kept in good repair throughout the year, unless the owners of the land on both sides otherwise agree. History: G.S. 1868, ch. 40, § 15; October 31; R.S. 1923, 29-308. CASE ANNOTATIONS 1. Adjoining l…

29-309. What occupants not required to contribute towards partition fence. No person not wishing his land enclosed, and not occupying or using it otherwise than in common, shall be compelled to contribute to erect or maintain any fence dividing between his land and that of an adj…

29-310. Proceedings when one common owner desires to occupy land in severalty. When lands owned in severalty have been enclosed in common without a partition fence, and one of the owners is desirous to occupy his land in severalty and the other refuses or neglects, on demand, to …

29-311. Throwing land open. When one party shall desire to throw his land open and leave it unenclosed, he shall not take away any part of the partition fence belonging to him and adjoining the next enclosure, if the owner or occupant of such enclosure will, within two months aft…

29-312. Rights of party not improving land adjoining partition fence. If any person shall determine not to improve any part of his land adjoining any partition fence that may have been divided according to the provisions of this act, and shall give six months' notice, in writing …

29-313. Owner enclosing his unenclosed land shall pay for one half of partition fence. When land which has been unenclosed is enclosed, the owner thereof shall pay for one half of each partition fence between his land and the adjoining lands, the value to be ascertained and state…

29-314. Fence on boundary line between counties; viewers. If the line upon which a partition fence is to be made or to be divided is the boundary line between counties or if such line is partly in one county and partly in another, two of the fence viewers shall be the chairperson…

29-315. Owner defined; notice; liability to tenant or occupant. The word "owner," under the provisions of this act, shall be held to include and apply to the occupant or tenant, when the owner does not reside within the county; and no proceedings under this act shall bind the own…

29-316. Fence may be built on partition line; removal. A person building a fence may lay the same upon the line between his own land and the land adjacent, so that the fence may be partly on one side of such line and partly on the other; and the owner shall have the same right to…

29-317. Partition fence wholly on one side of line. The foregoing provisions concerning partition fences shall apply to fences standing wholly upon one side of the division line, and used as a partition fence. History: G.S. 1868, ch. 40, § 24; October 31; R.S. 1923, 29-317. CASE …

29-318. Fence on line between townships where hogs prohibited from running at large in one and not the other; damages. In all cases where fences are built upon township lines, between townships in one of which hogs are prohibited from running at large and in the other of which th…

29-319. Making partition fence hog-tight. Whenever any owner of land enclosed in part by a partition fence desires to make hog-tight any part of the fence enclosing his premises, constructed or maintained by the owner of the adjoining land, he may attach to such partition fence, …

29-401. Liability for neglect to maintain or repair portion of partition fences. If any person liable to contribute to the erection of a partition fence shall neglect or refuse to make and maintain his proportion of such fence, or shall permit the same to be out of repair, he sha…

29-402. Domestic animals breaking into enclosure. If any horse, mule or ass, or any neat cattle, hogs or sheep, or other domestic animals, shall break into any enclosure, and the owner or occupant thereof shall consider himself aggrieved thereby, such person may apply to the fenc…

29-403. Assessment of damages by fence viewers. If in the opinion of said fence viewers such fence is a good and sufficient fence, according to the provisions of this act, they shall proceed, upon view and inquiry, to assess the damages sustained by such applicant from such tresp…

29-404. Recovery by civil action of damages assessed; attorney's fee. If any party against whom damages shall be assessed by the fence viewers under the provisions of this act shall fail or refuse to pay the damages so assessed, after the same shall have been demanded, and after …

29-405. Fence not of proper height or kind; costs. If the fence viewers shall be of opinion that such fence is not of the height and sufficiency required by this act, the person calling upon them to examine the same shall pay all the costs of such view and examination, to be reco…

29-406. Removal of fence built upon land of another by mistake; damages. When a person has made a fence on an enclosure which afterwards, on making division lines, is found to be on lands of another, and the same has occurred through mistake, such first person may enter upon the …

29-407. Limitations on removal. But such fence shall not be removed, if it was made of timber or other material taken from the land on which it is built, until the party pays to the owner of the land the value of the timber or other material, to be ascertained by the fence viewer…

29-408. Taking trespassing animals into possession. If any of the animals mentioned in this act break free of their lawful enclosure, and trespass on land owned by another person, the owner or occupant of the land may take into possession such animal trespassing, and keep the sam…

29-409. Cruelty to domestic animals; damages. If any person or corporation shall hurt, wound, kill, lame or destroy, or cause to be hurt, wounded, killed, lamed or destroyed, by running over or against, shooting, worrying with dogs, or otherwise, any of the animals mentioned in t…