228 



LIVERY-STABLE KEEPERS, AGISTERS, ETC. 



May have a 

 lien by agree- 

 ment. 



Bankruptcy 

 of agister. 



Horses and 

 cattle being 

 agisted are 

 distrainable. 



But not when 

 taken in to 

 rest for a 

 night. 



Decisir n of 

 the Irish 



milking ; which establishes that it was not intended that 

 the agister was to have the entire possession of the thing 

 bailed ; and there is nothing to show that the owner might 

 not for that purpose have taken the animals out of the field 

 wherein they were grazing if he had thought proper so to 

 do. This claim of lien is therefore inconsistent with the 

 necessary enjoyment of the property by the owner." 



But where there is a special agreement, there may of 

 course be a lien (/). Thus the plaintiff ha^ang a cow at 

 grass in defendant's field, and being indebted for the 

 agistment, agreed with him that the cow should be security ; 

 that he would not remove her till the defendant was paid, 

 and that, if he did, the defendant might take her where she 

 might be, and keep her till he was paid. The plaintiff 

 removed the cow without having paid the debt, and the 

 defendant seized her on the high road. In an action of 

 trespass for the taking, it was held that the agreement might 

 be set up as a defence under a plea that the cow was not 

 the plaintiff's (j). 



In Be Woodward, Ex parte Huggins (/.•), H. placed certain 

 stock upon the lands of W. upon an agreement whereby the 

 stock remained the property of H., who, at the end of a 

 certain period, was to sell the stock ; and, after deducting 

 the original price and a percentage for profit, to hand over 

 the balance to W. During the continuance of the agree- 

 ment W. became bankrupt, and the trustee claimed the 

 stock in question as being within the reputed ownership of 

 the bankrupt. It was held that the custom of agistment 

 was notorious, and that being the case, that no reputation 

 of ownership could arise in the case of stock on the lands of 

 a farmer. 



Horses and cattle put into a close to be agisted are liable 

 at common law to be taken in distress by the landlord, the 

 general rule being that all things on the land are distrain- 

 able for rent in arrear (/). 



Horses or cattle driven to a distant market, and put into 

 land to rest for one night, cannot be distrained for rent by 

 the owner of the land, such protection being absolutely 

 necessary for the public interests (in). 



Thus it was held in the Irish Court of Queen's Bench, 



(y) Richards v. Symons, 8 Q. B. 

 90. 



(k) 54 L. T., N. S. 683. 



(l) Jones V. Fowell, 5 B. & C. 650 ; 

 8 D. & R, 416 ; 3 Christ. Bla. Com. 



p. 8,n. 4. 



(m) Tate T. Glerd, C. B., H. T., 

 24 Geo. 3. And see Poofe V. LoiigtKviU, 

 •2. "Wms. Saund. 290, u. (7). 



