LIABILITY OF DOG-OWNERS. 167 



carelessly left him unhitched, or was guilty of some other 

 negligence (3 Allen, 565; 24 La. Ann. 390). The not 

 uncommon opinion to the contrary is quite erroneous. 



DOGS. 



The question of liability for and protection against dogs 

 has been a perplexing one from earliest times. The laws of 

 Solon — undoubtedly the wisest law-giver of his age — de- 

 clared, that, if any dog bit a person, he should be delivered 

 up, and bound to a log of wood four cubits long ; and the 

 Romans also adopted the same law in their " Twelve Tables ;" 

 while an early law in Wales provided, that, after a dog had 

 bitten three persons, he should be first tied to his master's 

 leg, and then killed. 



Owing to the naturally wild and fierce disposition of dogs, 

 it has not been generally thought necessary by legislators, in 

 order to make the owner liable, to prove that he actually 

 knew the dog was accustomed to bite, as it is in the case of 

 other domestic animals. The law presumes that the son of 

 every Puritan farmer in Massachusetts has been brought up 

 from boyhood to repeat those lines of good old Dr. Watts : — 



" Let dogs delight to bark and bite, 

 For 'tis their nature to." 



Accordingly the owner is liable, if they do, whether his 

 education on this point has been neglected or not (3 Allen, 

 191). And not only so, he must with us pay double dam- 

 ages for the pleasure of keeping such animals ; and, after 

 actual notice of his disposition, the damages may be increased 

 to threefold. And so comprehensive is this law, that if your 

 dog rushes out into the street, and in mere play jumps at a 

 horse's head, whereby he is frightened and runs away, break- 

 ing the carriage, and perhaps the limbs of the occupants, you 

 are responsible for double the amount of the entire damage, 

 though it amount to several thousand dollars; for the lia- 

 bility of the owner is not limited to damages from the hite 

 of a dog, but extends to any direct injury, however caused 

 (1 Allen, 191). Again: if your dog is at large, although he 

 is a good-natured Newfoundland, and, being teased and irri- 

 tated by young children at play, turns upon them, and bites 

 one severely, you may be liable to heavy damages, although 



