The eavesdrop or eavesdrip is the width of ground around a house or building which receives the
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...
water dropping from the
eaves. By an ancient
Anglo-Saxon law
Anglo-Saxon law (Old English ''ǣ'', later ''lagu'' "law"; dōm "decree, judgment") is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early ...
, a landowner was forbidden to erect any building at less than two feet from the boundary of his land, and was thus prevented from injuring his neighbour's house or property by the dripping of water from his eaves. The law of Eavesdrip had its equivalent in the Roman
stillicidium, which prohibited building up to the very edge of an estate.
See also
*
Eaves-drip burial
References
Architecture
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