134 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



act.^^ A superior officer is not ordinarily liable 

 for the torts of his inferior. ^^ 



98. Arbitrary Action Not Discretion. Discre- 

 tion implies the use of reason, not of will. If the 

 act is not based ui3on a clear use of reason it will 

 be considered as arbitrary, and the officer will be 

 held personally liable for any harm which may 

 result. ^^ This may be veiy important for official 

 veterinarians to remember. Under a general 

 authority to quarantine animals for an infectious 

 disease, and to kill those which it may be neces- 

 sary to destroy to restrict an infectious disease 

 from spreading, it would probably be held neces- 

 sary to show that the animals killed were in fact 

 a danger to the community. ^^ This might excuse 

 the slaughter of animals actually diseased, and 

 those animals exposed to the infection, in which 

 the disease had not as yet been demonstrated. 

 Since many diseases develop in the affected ani- 

 mals an immunity to future attacks, in such 

 animals as had passed through the disease and 

 recovered, it might ])e presumed that such an 

 immunity had removed the danger. If such ani- 

 mals were ordered killed, as the result of a hys- 

 terical fear, rather than from scientific knowledge, 

 the officer so ordering might be held personally 

 liable for the full value of animals thus unneces- 

 sarily destroyed. 



99. Authority Limited by Jurisdiction. It is 

 very evident that a person, a corporation, or a 



12 Public Health, 360, 365, 366; State v. Yopp, 97 N. C. 

 366. 477. 



I?' Public Health, 367. i'> Public Health, 201. 



14 PxjBLic Health, 273, 365, 



