Wolford v. Lopez · ¶143

To be sure, the public might well have an implied license to enter private property open to the public, and such permission might generally include the ability to enter armed. See ante, at 10. But as I have explained, any such license is not a matter of right—a license is a creature of state law and custom, and it can vary accordingly. See supra, at 7–8. Unsurprisingly, then, there are multiple historical examples of States altering the scope of implied licenses through legislation. Under the common law of England, there was no implied license for a person’s livestock to enter another person’s unfenced land. But the Colonies reversed that rule through legislation, requiring landowners to fence out roaming livestock that they did not want on their property. See B. Sawers, The Right To Exclude From Unimproved Land, 83 Temp. L. Rev. 665, 679–684 (2011).

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