EAVESDRIP, or EAVESDROP  , that width of ground around a house or building which receives the rain water dropping from the eaves . By an ancient Saxon law, a landowner was forbidden to erect any building at less than 2 ft. 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 has had its equivalent in the Roman stillicidium, which prohibited building up to the very edge of an estate . From the Saxon custom arose the term " eavesdropper," i.e. any one who stands within " the eavesdrop " of a house, hence one who pries into others' business or listens to secrets . At common law an eavesdropper was regarded as a common nuisance, and was presentable at the court leet, and indictable at the sheriff's tourn and punishable by fine and finding sureties for good behaviour . Though the offence of eavesdropping still exists at common law, there is no modern instance of a prosecution or indictment .