HOESES RUNNING AWAY. 337 



a matter of degree. As to the use of an unbroken horse in 

 a crowded pubHc thoroughfare, there could be Uttle doubt. 

 If a horse, which, though broken, could be proved to be of 

 a very restive character, were taken into a similar place, a 

 more doubtful question might arise. But with regard to 

 horses of ordinary temperament, constant experience shows 

 that there is little danger from the use of them, and it is there- 

 fore a reasonable use of the highway to employ them for 

 traffic. . . . We are not a little puzzled sometimes by the 

 law of animals, and doubt whether it can be reduced to an 

 altogether logical basis. A man, it would appear, is abso- 

 lutely liable in trespass for the act of his beast, such as a 

 bullock, in trespassing on a neighbor's land, apart from any 

 question of negligence. In other words, he is bound to keep 

 his animal in. Therefore I am liable for the spontaneous act 

 of my animal if he trespass against my neighbor's land, but 

 not if he trespass against my neighbor's person, unless I by 

 negligence have conduced to the latter mischief. This may 

 at first seem anomalous. . . . The answer, as it seems to us, 

 is that there is a radical difference between the case of tres- 

 pass to a person's land, or to himself upon his own land, and 

 to himself when using the highway. . . . The highway is 

 for the reasonable use of all persons according to the ordinary 

 practice and usages of life and business, and a man using it 

 takes a certain amount of risk of accident, whereas he is en- 

 titled to a more absolute security on his own land. We have 

 been dealing rather with acts done by animals not induced by 

 any apparent external cause, but the question may give rise 

 to difficulty, how far and under what circumstances any lia- 

 bility rests upon the owner of an animal which does an act, 

 being impelled thereto by unusual circumstances of which 

 the owner is not the cause. Take, for instance, the case of a 

 horse frightened by a fire and running away. Perhaps a fire 

 is to be considered a reasonable cause for any animal's run- 

 ning away; but take some small cause such as would only 

 make a very spirited or nervous horse run away, then a more 

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