NATURE OF A POUND. 311 



as a pound a yard furnished and used by the town, if there is 

 no other place, though no action of the town has estabHshed 

 it as a pound.^ But it has been held that where there is no 

 public town pound, the pound-keeper has no authority to con- 

 fine animals in his own yard.* It was held in Maine that 

 where there is no pound or pound-keeper, one may legally 

 detain in his own custody an animal taken damage feasant 

 upon his premises, and has a lien upon it for expenses neces- 

 sarily incurred in taking suitable care of it. "He was there- 

 fore without remedy unless we hold that the common-law 

 mode of impounding survived in cases not covered by the 

 statute. ... At common law, cattle could be impounded 

 either in a common or a private pound at the option of the 

 impounder. The statutes of New Hampshire, Vermont and 

 Massachusetts respectively require towns, under similar pen- 

 alties, to erect and maintain pounds, but provide that creat- 

 ures must be impounded in the public pound if there be any 

 in the town, otherwise in the barn or enclosure of the person 

 taking them up. To be sure there is no such express pro- 

 vision in the statute of this State, but it should practically re- 

 ceive the same construction." ^ But in a Vermont case it 

 was held that the restraining of cattle without putting them 

 in a pound and without an intent to impound them, does not 

 constitute an impounding, though there was no usable public 

 pound in the town.® 



Where it is by statute made the duty of selectmen to "erect 

 and maintain" pounds, this duty is fully discharged by their 

 purchasing or hiring to be used as pounds suitable enclosures 

 already erected.'^ The place legally chosen will continue to 

 be the pound till changed by the proper authorities.* 



• Anthony v. Anthony, 6 Allen (Mass.) 408. 

 ' Collins V. Larkin, i R. I. 219. 



" Mosher v. Jewett, 63 Me. 84. 



• Howard v. Bartlett (Vt.), 40 Atl. Rep. 825. 

 ' Whitlock V. West, 26 Conn. 406. 



' Colp V. Halstead, 63 111. App. 116. ; 



