WHEN ANIMALS ARE "RUNNING AT LARGE." 293 



streets' or 'in a public place,' and from such a limitation we 

 differ in toto ccelo. If a dog is once lost sight of, and is away 

 from the absolute and immediate control of his owner, he is 

 at large to all intents and purposes ; if he be within his master's 

 premises, his being at large may be questioned, but anywhere 

 away from that spot his master cannot control him and he 

 must be muzzled in compliance with the law." ^*^ So in a 

 Nebraska statute authorizing the killing of dogs, "running at 

 large" means "running on the pubHc road or off from the 

 owner's premises without any person claiming an interest in 

 the dog being near at hand." ^*^ A dog is "going at large" 

 in a town if he is loose and following the person in charge of 

 him through the streets at such a distance that control can- 

 not be exercised over him which will prevent his doing mis- 

 chief.^** "A ferocious and over-grown dog, known to the 

 owner or keeper to be accustomed to bite mankind, is to be 

 regarded as at large, within the common import of those 

 terms, in a plea in bar, when he is so far free from restraint 

 as to be liable to do mischief to man or beast ; and this such 

 a dog is always liable to do, when not physically restrained. 

 . . . His being in the presence of his keeper affords no safe 

 assurance that his known propensities will not prevail over 

 the restraints of authority." ^*^ A hound, near a fell'ow- 

 huntsman of his master but out of sight and hearing of the 

 latter, has been held not to be "running at large." ^^^ 



In Canada, where horses were startled by the barking of 

 dogs running at large on the highway and jerked a rope, in- 

 juring the plaintiff's hands, the owner of the dogs was held 



"9 Sol. Jour. 794. 



Dogs are not "under control" unless the control is effective: Hay v. 

 Bennett, 3 Times L. Rep. 24. 



"' Nehr v. State, 35 Neb. 638. 



"* Cora. V. Dow, 10 Mete. (Mass.) 382. 



A dog unmuzzled and unaccompanied by its owner is "running at large" 

 though it had just escaped and its master is pursuing it: Julienne v. Jack- 

 son, 69 Miss. 34. 



"' Brown v. Carpenter, 26 Vt. 638. '"' Wright v. Clark, 50 Vt. 130. 



