Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-10-30
The Stock Law.

In Difference to general desire for in
formation regarding the provisions of
the Stock Act, adopted by vote of the peo-
pie of this county at the recent election,
we give below the material portions of it.:
Section repeats certain sections of the
Code for which the present law is q sub
stitute.
Section 2 prohibits swine, sheep and
goats from running at large
SEC. 3 When any person is injured in
his lands, enclosed by lawful fence, by
amy kind of domestic animal, he may re-
cover his damages by an action against
the owner, or by distraining the animals
doing the damage; but if they were law
fully on the adjoining land, and escaped
therefrOm by reason of the neglect of the
person suffering the damage to maintain
his part of the division fence, the owner
of the animals shall not be liable for such
damage, and if the party injured elects to
recover by action against the owner of the
stock, no appraisemcat need be made by
the trustees as in cases of distraint; and
in counties where by police regulation
stock is restrained from running at large,
any person injured in his improved or
cultivated lands by any domestic animal,
may recover his damages rs provided in
section six of this act and sections 1854,
1455 and 1856 of the code, whether the
lands whereon the injury was done was
enclosed by lawful fence or not.
Section amends section 300 of the
code by striking out the word "now" in
the fifth line thereof, and defines the word
''stock" as used therein and in this act to
mean cattle, horses, mules and asses
The rest of this section relates to the pro-
positions to be submitted to the popular
vote and the manner of such submission
Section provides that in case of adop-
ton by the people, the Stock Law shall
take effect and be in force at the end of
thirty days after the election, and shall
continue in force ninety days after sub
sequcnt election at which it shall have
been re-admitted and voted down.
Sec. 6. Section 1852 The owner of
any stock or domestic animal, prohibited
by law or police regulation of any country
from running at large at any of the times
hcreinbeforc mentioned, shall be liable
for all damages done thereby while wrong
fully remaining at large upon the public
highway or upon the improved or cult
waited lands of another, which may be re-
covered by action at law, or the party in
jured may, at his option, distrain the
trespasslng animals, and retain the same
in some safe place, at the expense of the
owner until the damages are paid as pro-
vided in sections 1854, 1855, and 1856 of
the code: Provided, That no stock or
domestic animal, except the male animals
mentioned in section 1447 of the code,
shall be considered as running at large,
so long as the same is upon unimproved
and uncultivated lands, and under the i'm
mediate care and control of the owner, or
upon the public highway under like care
and control, for the purpose of travel or
driving thereon.
Sec. Z. Section 1853 The word own
er, as used in the preceding and in the
succeeding sections of this chapter of the
code, shall include the person entitled to
the present possession of the animal, and
also the person having the care or charge
of the same, as well as the person having
the legal title thereto