Florida Statute 588.09 - Full Text and Legal Analysis

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XXXV
AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND ANIMAL INDUSTRY

Chapter 588
LEGAL FENCES AND LIVESTOCK AT LARGE

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588.09 Legally enclosed land; fenced and posted.—

(1) Land shall be legally enclosed land, or posted land, when enclosed by a legal fence, and when there shall be placed along the boundary of said land in the manner herein provided posted notices to the public; provided that it shall not be necessary to erect any fence along any portion of the boundaries of the land formed by any ocean, gulf, bay, river, creek, or lake.

(2) The fences, enclosures, and the posted notices, when erected, placed, and maintained as herein required shall be notice to the public that the land enclosed thereby is private property upon which unauthorized entry for any purpose is prohibited and shall constitute a warning to unauthorized persons to remain off of or to depart from said land.

History.—ss. 4, 6, ch. 25357, 1949.

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Amendments to 588.09

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Cases Citing Statute 588.09

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Davidson v. Howard, 438 So. 2d 899 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal

...ws of Florida (1949)), which reads as follows: The owner of legally enclosed land shall maintain in reasonable good condition the fence or enclosure around such land and shall maintain in legible condition any and all posted notices as required by §§ 588.09, 588.10, but a substantial or reasonably effective compliance with the provisions of §§ 588.011, 588.09, 588.10, disregarding minor or inconsequential differences in the size, shape or condition thereof, shall be sufficient for the purpose of evidencing the legal enclosure of said land....

...or simple tether, it matters not. The sections of Chapter 588 having to do with a "legal fence" and "legally enclosed" land have nothing to do with the Warren Act. Rather, they were enacted to help protect landowners against human trespassers. Under Section 588.09, Florida Statutes, land becomes legally enclosed (or posted, the terms being synonymous) land when: (a) it is enclosed by means of a legal fence; (b) notices to the public are placed in a particular manner along the non-acqueous bounda...