Dwelling House

A building inhabited by man.

A part of a house is, in one sense, a dwelling house; for example, where two or more persons rent of the owner different parts of a house, so as to have among them the whole house, and the owner does not reserve or occupy any part, the separate portion of each will, in cases of burglary, be considered the dwelling house of each.

At common law, in cases of burglary, under the term dwelling house are included the out-houses within the curtilage or common fence with the dwelling house.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.