In "Mending Wall"1 , poet Robert Frost and his neighbour are engaged in their annual spring ritual of repairing the stacked stone wall that divides their properties. Frost asks the neighbour why they do it every year. He asks why they need the wall. There is nothing on either property that needs containing except pine trees on the neighbour's and apple trees on the writer's, neither of which will wander. The neighbour merely answers "Good fences make good neighbours." For every reason Frost puts forward for not having the wall, the neighbour repeats "Good fences make good neighbours." Frost, convinced that his neighbour will never change, resigns himself to mending the wall.
This case shows us that, sometimes, the neighbour is correct. Good fences do make good neighbours — provided they are placed on the property line.
Beffort v. Zuchelkowski |
2016 CarswellOnt 1009 |
Ontario Superior Court of Justice