292 ANIMALS TRESPASSING AND RUNNING AT LARGE. 



does not, in all cases, imply direct physical power to control 

 the actions of the animals ; in some cases moral means would 

 be sufficient for this purpose, such as the proximity of the 

 owner to the animals, the human voice, gestures and like 

 means. Whether in a given case physical or moral power 

 over the animals is necessary depends upon their nature, age, 

 character, habits, discipline and business or use at the time, 

 and whatever other circumstances have a bearing upon the 

 subject. What would constitute a person a keeper of one 

 animal would not make him a keeper of another under differ- 

 ent circumstances. It is sufficient to constitute the owner 

 of animals their keeper, in a given case, if it appears that he 

 possessed the means upon which a person in the exercise of 

 ordinary care, judgment and intelligence upon those matters 

 would rely to control their actions. Whether or not animals 

 are thus in charge is a question of fact to be determined by the 

 jury rmder proper directions." ^'^^ 



"At large" has been held to mean "without restraint or 

 confinement," ^^° and "confined" and "prohibited from run- 

 ning at large" mean substantially the same thing.^*^ And in 

 an English periodical it is said: "The ordinary meaning of 

 the words 'at large' is taken to be 'without restraint' or 'un- 

 confined.' A dog loose upon the premises of his owner is, 

 to a certain extent, confined, at any rate so long as he remains 

 within the premises ; but if he wanders away and enters upon 

 premises not his master's, it is clear that he must have been 

 at large in some sense of the word. To say that a dog must 

 be not only off the premises of his master but also not upon 

 those of any one else, to make his owner punishable, is to 

 decide that the words 'at large' are limited to mean 'in the 



"" Jennings v. Wayne, 63 Me. 468, 470. 



"" Goener v. Woll, 26 Minn. 154. "It follows that if a ram is suffered 

 to go about without restraint or confinement, even though it be upon 

 land belonging to his owner, or of which such owner has a rightful use, 

 he runs at large within the meaning of the statute:'' Ibid. 



'" St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Mossman, 30 Kan. 336. 



