Property Rights

A Connecticut Couple Is Fighting for the Right To Let People Hike on Their Land

Charles and Elizabeth Copley have big plans for their 50-acre property, but the town insists they need a business license to let people to hike or walk their dogs.

Joe Lancaster | 8.27.2026 9:00 AM

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(Photo: Institute for Justice)

One of the most enduring principles of liberty is owning property. "America's Founders understood clearly that private property is the foundation not only of prosperity but of freedom itself," Roger Pilon, founder of the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies, wrote in 2017.

And yet all too often, bureaucrats put unnecessary rules and regulations on how we can use our property. One couple is suing their town for the right to just let people go for a walk on their land.

Charles Copley met his wife, Elizabeth, at Oxford University, while they were each pursuing a Ph.D. After living a few years in his native South Africa, they moved with their children to Connecticut to be closer to Elizabeth's family.

Wanting to make the area their permanent home, they purchased two plots of rural land in Roxbury totaling 50 acres in 2022. They hoped not only to live on the land but to really make it their own: farming, planting, and otherwise tailoring the property to their family while protecting and preserving its natural beauty.

They hired a forester to draw up a 10-year forest management plan, which the town approved, and then began removing invasive species and cutting miles of walking trails throughout all........

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