1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



16 



the road adjoining his premises was his property 

 and not the property of the town. He brought a 

 suit for trespass, which went to the Supreme 

 Court and was decided in his favor. The Court 

 held that in opening a highway, the fee simple, 

 the absolute ownership of the soil, was not vested 

 in the public, but only the right of way. The 

 public had control of a road as far as was neces- 

 sary to make a convenient passage, but no farther. 

 If a road were abandoned by the public, it again 

 became part of the property from which it was 

 originally taken, and this wis addidonal proof 

 that the title to the soil occupied by the highway 

 was vested in owners of the land adjoining. The 

 public having nothing but the right of way, the 

 grass and feed on the road were therefore the pri- 

 vate property of adj oining landholders. The fol- 

 lowing are the words of the Court: 



"The owner of land covered by a highway has 

 the exclusive right to the herbage growing there- 

 on, and a by-law of a town giving liberty to the 

 inhabitants to pasture their cows in the public 

 highways, under certain regulations, passed un- 

 der the authority of a general statue (Acts 1855, 

 ch. 64 ) empowering towns to pass such by-laws 

 has no validity." 



Remarks- — We believe that the same 

 general laws, that is, the common la\r, is 

 in cxistance in this St te, and the like re- 

 sults might bo obtained in our courts. Our 

 Supreme Court has been on both sides of 

 this question, which involves no small in- 

 terests. It would be difficult to so frame a 

 general law that ^vould be satisfactory alike 

 in all p'lris of the State. In the northern 

 counties, it is pretty generally understood 

 that the owners of stock are under oblisa- 

 tions to take care of them ; while in Egypt, 

 cattle are considered free comoners. We 

 have had no small experience with both 

 systems, and are free to confess that our 

 preferences are strongly in favor of every 

 man taking care of his own stock, and 

 either keeping them within his own enclo- 

 sure or herding them. 



The most common and best material for 

 fencing is post and boards. Three boards 

 to a panel will be sufficient for all stock 

 except sheep and hogs ; to fence against 

 the latter two more have to be added, these, 

 at sixteen dollars the thousand feet, will cost, 

 including nails, twenty-nine cetns per rod, 

 and for a farm of one hundred and sixty 

 acres, counting half the fence on three 

 sides, and all on on ■ side for highway, with 

 two cross fences, cutting the farm into forty 



acre lots, and we have seven hundred and 

 twenty rods, multiply this by thirty, the 

 cost of the two extra boards, caiJs, and put- 

 ting on, and we have an outlay 'for hog 

 fence, of two hundred and sixteen dollars, 

 just for the value of prairie feed. This is 

 not all, the small farmer msy not have this 

 amount of money to spare, or he may not 

 wish to keep a large lot of hogs, yet, to 

 protect his crops against the long-nosed 

 rooters of his neighbors, he must stand 

 guard, lose his crops, or make this extra 

 fence, for what ? not for himself, for ho 

 will find it cheaper to make a hog pasture 

 of five or ten acres, and confine his hof^s 

 where they will thrive, instead of having 

 them roam over the prairie feeking mis- 

 chief, but for his neighbor, who has per- 

 haps squatted by the road side, rents some 

 distant corn -field, and keeps a large drove 

 of hogs to annoy his neighbor. C-ittle 

 never do as well on the praiiie rang.; as 

 with cultivated pastures. In the early set- 

 tlement of the country, when stock grow- 

 ing was the one great feature of the State, 

 there might have been some excuse and 

 warrant for such a practice, bat now, when 

 the country is becoming more densely pop- 

 ulated, and a mixed husbandry obtains, a 

 change could be m;de to advantaoe com- 

 pelling every person; owning stock to look 

 to it that they do not trespass on his neigh- 

 bor. We have no statute law on the sub- 

 ject of fencing, except to regulate the line 

 fences between adjoining farms — all other 

 fence laws rest on the common law, upon 

 which the decision was made, which we 

 have inserted above. We are aware that 

 others hold a diff"erent opinion in regard to 

 enclosure laws, but if they will look close, 

 the above will be all they can find. Should 

 any of onr readers wish to discuss this sub- 

 ject farther, we shall be pleased to hear 

 from them. — Ed. 



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