Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-05-12
AGRICULTURE.

TEE Law OF TREsPAss.-Trespass ia
defined as ''any transgression or ohense
against the laws Of nature, of society,
or of the country in witch We live,
whether it relates 10 mans person or
his property" This Is its widest mean
ing. Ordinarily, however, it has ref
erence only to an entrance on the prop
erty of another without authority, and
In doing damage while there, whether
much or little. The laws give the
owner exclusive control over his prop
erty. Any infringements of his rights
without his permission, or Justified by
legal authority, therefore constitutesa
trespass, 1t does not need that the
land should be enclosed by fences. The
law supposes an imaginary enclosure,
which answers every purpose, and the
simple act of passing it constitutes tres
pass, although no harm should result
to crops, cattle, or aught else. Even
person legally authorized TO seize GER
tain goods on mans premises dare not
break open the doors for that purpose;
il he does his authority avails him moth
ing, and he becomes a common tres
passer. Neither Is person justified in
so arranging spouts as to discharge
water Oh another mans land, even
though he never step off his own
grounds; nor TO permit filth to pass
boundary line without due permission.
When spout first discharges on a
mans own premises and the contents
then find their way TO neighbor E
premises, il does Eot constitute a tres
pass. Hunting and fishing, however.
constitutes the most common and an
moving sources to which our farmers
are subjected. Custom has induced
some people to believe they may hunt
or fish on the lands and waters of other
men with impunity. Nothing is wider
of the fact than this. Because there
can be no property in rabbits, quail,
SQUIRRELS, pheasants, and other feral
birds and animals, they think these
may be pursued wherever they may De
discovered. 1t is hardly necessary to
say that the same laws governing tres
pass in other cases prevail here No
matter that neither grain nor grass are
trampled down, whether gates are left
closed, bars left up. and no rails brok-
en-, the pursuit of such game on the
lands of another without permission is
trespass. To even enter an enclosed
piece of wood, where there are no crops
70 injury, in pursuit Of game which may
have taken refuse there, Is violation
of law-quite as much as if wheat
| field In ear had been trampled down.
Fox hunts, which are again becoming
common in certain sections of this and
the neighboring counties are all in VIC
latiOn OF tine law, and every farmer
whose acres are passed over by the
hunters, without his sanction having
been previously obtained, has recourse
in the law against the sportsmen for
.respass. In fishing, as in hunting,
the ordinary ponds and streams are the
exclusive property of those through
whose lands they flow or in which they
happen to be situated. In the case OF
navIgable streams, any one may boat
up and down and fish in them, but has
no right to land on the shores and do
so. A pond of whatever size on mans
farm, whether natural or artificial. Il
his exclusive property, and any fishirs
in it is trespass, as is also the passing
to and from it by persons without per-
mission.