90 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



case of injuring- a tree standing- in a highway, the mode of 

 prosecution is the same as in other criminal cases. 



Our Statutes provide that every person who cuts a tree 

 in a pubHc way or place except for the purpose of protecting 

 it, and under a written permit from a tree warden, shall be 

 fined not more than $50 (General Statutes, Sec. 4447). and 

 every person who wilfully injures or defaces an ornamental 

 or shade tree within the limits of a public way or place, shall 

 be fined not more than $100 (General Statutes, Sec. 4447), 

 and every person who shall wilfully injure any tree or shrub 

 standing upon the land of another, or on the public highway 

 in front of said land, shall be fined not more than $100, or 

 imprisoned not more than 12 months, or both (General Stat- 

 utes, Sec. 1223). 



To enforce these penalties, complaint must be made to the 

 g-rand juror or other prosecuting officer of the town where 

 the offense is committed. If the destruction or injury of the 

 tree was the act of the owner of the land in front of which 

 the tree stood, would he be amenable to those statutes? I 

 think not. If the act complained of w'as the act of a tele- 

 g-raph, telephone or electric light or power company, or of 

 any person or corporation, having a right to maintain struc- 

 tures in the highway, done under the claim that it was rea- 

 sonably necessary in the exercise of such rights, w^ould the 

 actor be liable to these penalties? I think not, unless the 

 act was malicious and wanton. Besides these laws just 

 recited, which may well be called the general laws concerning 

 the preservation of trees in highways, there are other stat- 

 utes protecting certain trees in highways and on town com- 

 mons. Every person who shall cut, destroy or carry away 

 any trees standing or l>ing on town commons, shall pay to 

 the town certain damages, to be recovered in a civil action 

 (General Statutes. Sec. 1097). 



This, of course, would not apply to persons or corporations 

 having a right to maintain structures on the town commons, 

 where the acts were reasonably necessary for the enjoyment 

 of the right and were not done wantonly and maliciously. 



Any person or association, with the written pennission 

 of the selectmen, and in compliance with certain conditions. 



