My wife isn't a Trekkie but she did ask me a valid question the other Night.... here goes.
She said if none is allowed to go to or enter that space why is it called the Neutral Zone , why isn't it called the forbidden Zone? I have to agree with her..... what do you think. :)
Marko
My take on it was it was called that because it referred to an area of "neutral space" that was not owned or claimed by either the Federation or the Romulans.
Yeah that was my view as well. It's neutral, no one owns it.
I always assumed it was established following the first Earth/Romulan war Kirk refers to in "Balance of Terror". I figured both sides signed a treaty and created the Neutral Zone as a buffer of space between the Federation and the Empire, kind of like the empty, open space which used to exist between the Berlin Wall or an even better example would be the DMZ dividing North and South Korea.
That is exactly right. Both sides were allowed listening posts to make sure that there would be sufficient warning if the opposing side entered the Zone and/or crossed to the other side.
Bryan's explanation is the way I understood it as well