ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 155 



bees, is rewarded by assigning' to the possessor of the place where the 

 hives are a riglit of property in the bees. Wlieii a hive swarms he can 

 pursue it away from his own i)remises upon the premises of another 

 man. It remains his property; and, as appears from the decision which 

 I read to the learned Arbitrators, if the bees go onto the i^renuscs of 

 another person who will not i)ermit the owner of the swarm to go tlsere 

 and take tbera, they still remain his property; and if they are ai)pro- 

 priated by the owner of the land where they take refuge, he is guilty 

 of a trespass. 



All of those privileges are awarded to the owner of bees as a reward 

 and encouragement to him for protecting the bees. It is an appeal to 

 the great motive of self-interest so powerful in human nature, and whic-h 

 is the foundation of a great i)art of all the blessings of society. It is call- 

 ing into activity a care, industry, labor, and diligence which otherwise 

 would not be exercised. 



I might add instances of other animals; but the learned Arbitrators 

 will perceive what the rule is which has been established, the different 

 animals to which it is applied, and the obvious grounds upon which the 

 doctrine is based. 



Now let me see whether those doctrines apply to the case of the fur- 

 seal or not. It is only necessary to alhide to a few of the characteristics 

 of the seal. In the first place he comes upon the Pribilof Islands volun- 

 tarily, and there submits himself absolutely to the contiol, custody, and 

 disposition of the owner of that place. He is defenceless against man. 

 Still he voluntarily comes there and submits himself to the i)ower of 

 man. In the next place, after migrating from that place he returns to 

 it in obedience to the most imperious of all animal instincts. ]Sothing 

 can stop him unless he is driven away. Although his absence from 

 that spot is very prolonged and the distances over which he travels 

 very great, that instinct to return is never for a moment absent. It is 

 superior — very far superior — to any instinct that a deer may have to go 

 to a particular place, or the wild swans, or geese, or pigeons, or animals 

 of that sort. Seals will go through all obstacles and all dangers and 

 certainly return to that si)ot. What is the social utility to subserve 

 which this habit offers an opportunity? Man is enabled by means of it 

 to practice a species of husbandry. He can take the annual increase 

 of that animal without in any respect diminishing its stock. In other 

 words, he can deal with the animal precisely as he does with domestic 

 animals and precisely as if the animal were domestic. Therefore we 

 find here all the elements, all the foundations, upon which as Black- 

 stone calls it, property per indvstriam stands. You may ask what care, 

 what industry man practices in reference to the seal. He does not take 

 him and teach him to return; he does not laboriously wont him to this 

 l^articular spot; the animal is inclined to go there anyway; but you 

 will perceive ui)on a very little refiection the degree of care and industry 

 which is exercised. In the tirst place the (Jnited States, or Kussia 

 before the United States, carried thither to these islands several hun- 

 dred people, and instituted a guard over those islands and preserved 

 the seals and protected them against all other dangers except that of 

 being slaughtered in the manner which 1 have described — a very great 

 labor and a great deal of expense. The seals are freely invited to come 

 to those islands. No obstacle is thrown in their way. Their annual 

 return is cherished in every way in which it can be cherished. Very 

 great expense is undergone in extending this sort of protection over 

 them. In the next place, and what is particularly im])ortant, the 

 United States, and Eussia before the United States, i)racticed a self- 



