CHAPTER III. 



THE LIABILITIES OF PARTIES HUNTING OK TRESPASSING 

 UPON THE LANDS OF ANOTHER. 



Htintiiig and Trespassing. 



Where the fox, gray, or otter, and other noxious ani- 

 mals, are pursued as vermin, and the goTerning object 

 of the pursuers is their extirpation, as such, and not merely 

 the amusement of " a run," the law, as laid down in the 

 older authorities, is to a certain extent correct at the present 

 day. 



It is laid down that one may justify hunting foxes over 

 the ground of another because they are noisome vermin (a) ; 

 and also gray or otter and other noxious animals, as they 

 are injurious to the commonwealth (b). And in Gimdry v. 

 Felthani (c), Lord Mansfield, C.J., said, "By all the cases 

 as far back as the reign of Henry the Eighth, it is settled 

 that a man may follow a fox into the grounds of another." 



But a person so hunting must not unnecessarily trample 

 down another man's hedges, nor maliciously ride over his 

 grounds ; for if he does more than is absolutely necessary 

 he cannot justify it (c). Therefore, pursuing an animal as 

 vermin does not justify fifty or sixty people following the 

 dogs {<£). 



A man cannot justify entering a close or digging up the 

 soil to hunt or take a fox, badger, &c., though it be for the 

 public good (e). So that it appears a person cannot enter 

 another's grounds to find vermin, nor can he dig it out when 

 it has run to earth. 



Persons hunting for their own amusement, and going 

 over the lands of another, are trespassers ; and fox-hunters, 

 like all other hunters, may be warned off (,/'). 



(a) Nicholas v. Badger, 3 T. E. 

 259, n. ; Gedge v. Minue, 2 Bulst. 

 62. 



(5) Com. Dig. Pleader, 3 M. 37. 



[c) Gimdry v. Feltham, 1 T. E. 

 337; 1 E. E. 215. 



(d) Sari of Essex ¥. Capel, Hert- 



Fresh pursuit 

 over another's 

 land. 



Pursuing 

 vermin. 



No unneces- 

 sary damage. 



Digging for a 

 fox, &c. 



Hunting for 

 amusement. 



ford Summer Assizes, 1809. 



(e) Com. Dig. Pleader, 3 M. 37, 

 and the authorities there cited. 



(/) Earl of Essex \ . Capel, Hert- 

 ford Summer Assizes, 1809; Bowyer 

 V. Cook, 4 C. B. 236 ; 16 L. J., C. P. 

 ISO. 



