On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:50:41 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote:

On Fri, 19 Oct 2012 06:12:09 -0400, Don Wiss
wrote:

When I was young I learned that fence facing etiquette is to have the
pretty side of the fence facing outward towards your neighbors. My
questions:

(1) Is this a law in places?

Yes. Even if the neighbor *prefers* the other side.

My brother's neighbor put up a stockade fence with the horizontals on
my brother's side. He asked his neighbor if he minded if he minded
if he used those horizontals to hang some plants on the nice
south-facing vertical surface. The neighbor was happy with his
smooth side-- my brother was happy with the easy to use horizontal
slats- and then the building inspector stopped by. He made the guy
take the fence down and switch it around! Luckily it was along a
level spot so the fence was salvageable as-is.

He should have just given the fence to your brother. ;-)