1384 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 
act..2 A superior officer is not ordinarily lable 
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 upon 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.'t This may be very 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 be 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, 
13 PUBLIC HEALTH, 367, 15 PUBLIC HEALTH, 201. 
14 PuBLIC HEALTH, 273, 365, 
