516 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR RICHARD WEBSTER, Q. C. M. P. 



aniraals that would come and feed out of your Land. The bee is hived, 

 and, as the French hiw has ]iointed out, hived by the act of man, and 

 induced to return to that place, as Savigny puts it, where the owner 

 keeps them, Avhere the owner has the means of taking possession of 

 them. He can shut up the door of the hive and carry the whole hive 

 away with him. That is the degree of possession in the case of the bee; 

 and it is quite remarkable when you i^emember that the mere settling of 

 a swarm of bees upon your tree gives you no property in them. 



Senator Morgan. — Suppose the bees go into the tree and make their 

 hive there without your assistance, do not they become your property? 



Sir EiCHARD Webster. — Simply and solely because you have got 

 the power of cutting down the tree and taking the honey, and nobody 

 else can do it. 



Senator Morgan. — That is the whole matter. You have got the 

 dominion over it. 



Sir Richard Webster. — If you say so, that is sufficient. I can 

 say uo more. 



Senator Morgan. — I suggest that ; I do not assert it. 



Marquis Visconti-Venosta. — So you say that the animal has not the 

 animus revertendi unless it returns to the place where man has i^revi- 

 ously kept it. That is your contention? 



Sir EiCHARD Webster. — That is my contention ; that according to 

 the law of all civilized countries, animus revertendi has no oi)eration at 

 all until the man, has had the animal in his keeping. It is not my own 

 language, Mr. President. 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — You mean in his actual manual keeping? 



Sir Richard Webster. — 'No. 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — I did not so understand you, but I thought I 

 would ask the question, so that you might bring out the point. 



Sir Richard Webster. — I do not think it could fairly be put upon 

 me that I meant that. I took the case of deer, that are induced to come 

 into a stable, and which by food being i:)laced there, and by men going 

 among them, can be fed and tamed in the sense which Mr. Carter relies 

 u])on as was the case of the deer in the i)ark of Lord Abergavenny. It 

 would not be right to say they were in the manual possession, in the 

 sense of being held, but they were in such a possession that at any 

 moment the man can take jiossession of the whole of those which are 

 tame, and they have got the intention of returning to the place where 

 the man has had them in possession. 



The President. — I beg your pardon; it perhaps is not quite regular, 

 but it might be well to ask Mr. Cgrter, or one of the other gentlemen 

 to tell us what their view of this matter is. It would make the case 

 more easy for us. 



Sir Richard Webster. — I am afraid it would be inviting their reply 

 now, Mr. President. That is all. 



The President. — Of course if you would in'efer to continue your 

 argument. 



Sir Richard Webster, — I have said all I desire to say. 



The President. — I thought there was no difference between you as 

 to animus revertendi. 



Sir Richard Webster. — By all means, Mr. President, if you will 

 put the question, I shall be only too glad to submit to your wishes. 



The President. — No; I think it will be answered later: and you 

 might perhaps go on with your argument. 



Sir Richard Webster. — Mr. President, I will only say, if you will 

 forgive me for repeating it, that in every one of our books of authority, 

 Blackstone, Bractou, Savigny and all the books, the law has been stated 



