LAWS ABOUT DOGS 



PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION 



When in 1932 we wrote and publisned 

 the first edition of this brief work, it was 

 the only formal publication in America on 

 laws about dogs. It still remains so. 



Much interest has been manifested in 



the subject not only by dog owners, 

 breeders, and others but also by members 

 of the legal profession. The increasing 

 part dogs occupy in our life today has 

 necessitated growing attention to canine 

 jurisprudence. 



A — History and Sources of Canine Law 



The dog presents a fascinating theme 

 from a legal viewpoint as he does from 

 almost every other due to his irrepressible 

 interest in living. As a member of the 

 lower or animal kingdom, he has a dual 

 status. He of all animals approaches 

 nearest the human in actions, associations 

 and mental functionings. 



Changing from the status of the beast 

 of the field, without any rights, belonging 

 to whoever could capture or kill him, the 

 dog has progressed to a status in present- 

 day society, where he partakes of many 

 of the rights of the humans ; in fact, at 

 times he is brought into court and tried 

 as a criminal according to the exact pro- 

 cedure for humans. However, basically 

 his very right to live is still a matter of 

 law enactment. 



1. Variance in Legal Holdings 



Consequently, one must not expect cer- 

 tainties in every point of the law con- 

 cerning dogs. One jurisdiction holds in 

 a certain way, another in another way. 



In one court the dog is held to be per- 

 sonal property as sacred to the owner as 

 automobiles, stocks and his home. In other 

 courts, he may be held somewhat in the 

 nature of a necessary evil, usually a public 

 nuisance, that, when he runs afoul of the 



law, faces no other penalty than that of 

 immediate death. 



2. England the Primal Source 



English law logically has developed much 

 law concerning dogs inasmuch as England 

 is the country where the ownership of 

 dogs and the breeding of purebred dogs 

 first received encouragement. England 

 gave the first recognition to the dog as 

 personal property altho it was a con- 

 ditional or what might be termed a left- 

 handed recognition. 



Blackstone, the revered name among 

 law students, set the mode for the legal 

 status of dogs for a long time. 



The following is taken from his famous 

 Commentaries: "As to those animals 

 which do not serve for food, and which 

 therefore the law holds to have no in- 

 trinsic value, as dogs of all sorts, and 

 other creatures kept for whim and pleas- 

 ure, though a man may have a base 

 property therein and maintain a civil 

 action for the loss of them, yet they are 

 not of such estimation as that the crime 

 of stealing them amounts to larceny. But 

 by the statute 10 George III c. 18 very 

 high pecuniary penalties of a long im- 

 prisonment and whipping in their stead 

 may be inflicted by two justices of the 



13] 



