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Eating Fruit while Passing Through

As I walk to shul, I pass by a house and yard that is surrounded by a fence. A grape vine grows inside the yard and along the fence so that alot of the vine and grapes are hanging over the fence, completely on the other side. Is it permissible to eat from the grapes because they are on the public side of the fence? The truth is, I don’t know where the property line falls, so it is possible that the other side of the fence is still their private land.

Also, someone told me that there is a halacha that when walking through someone’s field, one is allowed to pick and eat from the produce around him. Is that true? Does that apply in this case?

Thank you

Answer:

It is not permitted to pick and eat the grapes from a vine that is growing into the public domain. Likewise, one who is walking through a field is not allowed to eat its fruit — the halachah that you were told refers to a worker, who is permitted to eat some of the fruit he works with, and to an animal that works on the produce, but not to a person walking through the field.

Sources: See Bava Metziah 92b; Mo’ed Kattan 17a.

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