288 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



that his bull will gore his neighbor's ox, or that his dog will kill his neighbor's 

 sheep, because they are not naturally inclined to do such mischief. And 

 where there is no negligence there is no liability in this respect. But these 

 animals sometimes become vicious ; and as soon as the owner knows or has 

 good reason to believe that his animal is likely to do mischief, he must take 

 care of him, and after his knowledge of his vicious disposition he is liable for any 

 injury of the nature which he has shown a disposition to commit. 



In the case which I mentioned in my last address to the club, when the bull 

 killed the ox, it was held that the owner of the bull was not liable, for the 

 reason that the bull had never before manifested a vicious disposition, and the 

 owner had never had reason to suppose that he would do that sort of mischief. 

 The owner was not therefore negligent in the matter. If your bull is in the 

 habit of goring oxen, or your dog in the habit of killing sheep, it becomes 

 your duty to take care of him, and you are liable for any injury which is likely 

 to be the result of this vicious propensity, if this propensity is known to you^ 

 In order to make you liable, however, you must have knowledge, or reasonable 

 cause to believe, that the animal has committed an act of the kind com- 

 plained of; that is to say, if your bull gores an ox, in order to make you 

 liable for the injury, you must have knowledge that your bull has done simi- 

 lar mischief ; at least, you must have good reason, from the previous vicious 

 habit of the animal, to know that he was likely to do that sort of mischief. 



To illustrate: In North Carolina a farmer's bull running at large, killed a 

 valuable horse. In a suit brought by the owner of the horse for the injury, 

 the only evidence of the vicious habit of the bull was that he had previously 

 chased a man, and compelled him to seek safety by climbing the fence. The 

 owner of the bull was informed of this circumstance ; and it was urged that 

 this knowledge of the vicious propensity of the animal was sufficient to fix 

 his liability. On the other hand, it was insisted that he was not liable, because 

 it had not been shown that the bull had ever assailed horses. The court 

 declared the rule to be this: That as soon as the owner knows, or has good 

 reason to believe that the animal is likely to do mischief, he must take care of 

 him ; it makes no difference whether this ground of suspicion arises from one 

 act or repeated acts; the only restriction is, that the act done must be such 

 as to furnish a reasonable inference that the animal is likely to commit an 

 act of the kind complained of. If a bull so far loses sight of his submis- 

 sion to the "dominion of man" as on one occasion to rebel and offer combat, 

 it does not follow, as a matter of course, that he would be likely to attack a 

 a horse or an ox, although it would depend upon the nature of the animal,, 

 the provocation, and other circumstances attending the act, which would be- 

 proper matters for a jury to consider in a given case. 



If a dog is known to have killed one sheep, a jury would be able to infer, 

 from the knowledge of that animal, that he would kill another if an oppor- 

 tunity presented itself. If so, the owner would be liable. But if a dog is 

 known to have bitten a man, we would not be apt to infer that he would kill 

 sheep, because the one act proceeds from voraciousness, tlie other from com- 

 bativeness ; and fierce dogs are not apt to be sheep-killing dogs. So it has 

 been held, that an action cannot be sustained against the owner of a hog for 

 injury done to a person by proof that the hog would eat chickens and ducks. 

 One act may sometimes furnish as convincing proof of the animal as a dozen, 

 and the inference may sometimes be made from a single act brought home to 

 the knowledge of the owner. 



When a sow and pigs bit, mutilated, and mangled a certain cow and calf,. 



