ACCIDENTAL INJURIES TO TRESPASSING ANIMALS. 151 



turning in, which would tend strongly to relieve the act al- 

 together of negligence, or which would make it a matter of, 

 at least, questionable propriety." ^®^ So, where A., in occu- 

 pation of minerals under a field occupied by B., had sunk a 

 shaft for the purpose of getting minerals and, when they 

 ceased to work there, had not covered it over so as to 

 protect properly the horses in the field, and B.'s mare fell 

 down the shaft, without any negligence on B.'s part, and was 

 killed, A. was held liable for the loss, Cockburn, C. J., saying : 

 "I think that it is more reasonable that he who does the 

 work which is the cause of the danger should avert that dan- 

 ger by doing all that is reasonably necessary." ^^® And in a 

 similar case, where a bullock fell into an unfenced quarry in 

 the field he was pastured in, the owner of the quarry was 

 held Hable, following the principle in Groucott v. Williams, 

 supra, that "where an alteration has been made in the normal 

 state of things, calculated to- cause injury to a neighbor, an 

 obligation is cast upon the person who makes such an altera- 

 tion to protect his neighbor from injury — in this case to 

 place a fence so as to prevent cattle from falling into the 

 quarry." "" So, where cattle lawfully kept in a lot wander 

 into a portion of the lot that has been set on fire by another's 

 negligence, the latter is liable where the injury is the direct 

 and probable result of his wrongdoing.^'^ 



The rule is different, however, where animals stray without 

 justification on another's land. Thus, even where no action 

 lies for a trespass by cattle pasturing on uninclosed woodland, 

 yet as that is not a matter of right, the owner of the land is not 

 liable for an injury to the cattle from falling into an unfenced 

 hole.^^^ In another case, where the plaintiff allowed his horse 

 to run at large and it fell into an old well on the uninclosed 



'°' Green v. Kan. & T. Coal Co., 53 Mo. App. 606. 



"° Groucott V. Williams, 32 L. J. Q. B. 237. 



"° Hawken v. Shearer, 56 L. J. Q. B. 284. 



'" Chic, St. L. & P. R. Co. V. Barnes, 2 Ind. App. 213. 



™ Knight V. Abert, 6 Pa. St. 472. See, to the same effect, Hughes v. 



