What is "curtilage"

Curtilage \Cur"ti*lage\ (k?r"t?-l?j), n. [OF. cortillage, curtillage, fr. cortil court, courtyard, LL. cortis court. See Court.] (Law) A yard, courtyard, or piece of ground, included within the fence surrounding a dwelling house.
--Burrill.

early 14c., from Anglo-French curtilage, from Old French cortil "little court, walled garden, yard," from Medieval Latin cortile "court, yard," from Latin cortis (see court (n.)).

n. (context legal English) The area immediately surrounding a house, including any closely associated buildings and structures.

n. the enclosed land around a house or other building; "it was a small house with almost no yard" [syn: yard, grounds]

In law, the curtilage of a house or dwelling is the land immediately surrounding it, including any closely associated buildings and structures, but excluding any associated " open fields beyond", and also excluding any closely associated buildings, structures, or divisions that contain the separate intimate activities of their own respective occupants with those occupying residents being persons other than those residents of the house or dwelling of which the building is associated. It delineates the boundary within which a home owner can have a reasonable expectation of privacy and where "intimate home activities" take place. It is an important legal concept in certain jurisdictions for the understanding of search and seizure, conveyancing of real property, burglary, trespass, and land use planning.

In urban properties, the location of the curtilage may be evident from the position of fences, wall and similar; within larger properties it may be a matter of some legal debate as to where the private area ends and the "open fields" start.