The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1880-06-01
AGRICULTURE,

IHE LAW OF TREsPAss.- .--Trespass is
defined as "any transgressio or Offense
against the laws Of nature, Lt society,
or of the country in which we live,
whether 1t relates TO q mans person or
his property" This is its widest mean
Ing. Ordinarily, however, it has ref
erence only to an entrance on the prop
city of another without authority, and
III doing damage while there, whether
much or little. The laws give the
owner exclusive control over his prop
erty. Any infrlngements of his rights
without his permission, or justified by
legal authority, therefore Constitutes
trcspass, 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 a
person legally authorized to seize GER
tain goods on a mans premises dare not
break open the doors for that purpose
II he does his authority avais him moth
ing, ana he becomes Il common tres
passer. Neither Is person justified in
so arranging spouts as to discharge
water Oh another mans land, even
though he never step eff his own
grounds; nor to permit filth to pass a
boundary line withou, due permission.
When Il spout first discharges on n
mans own premises and the contents
then find their way to a neighbours s
pre-. c.nises, it does rot constitute q tres
pass. Hunting and fishing, however.
constitutes the most common and an
n0ying 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, phcasants, and other feral
birds and animals, they think these
may be pursued wherever they may be
discovered. 1t is hardly necessary to
say that the same laws governing tres
pass IN other eases prevail here. No
matter that neither grain nor grass arc
tramplcu down, whether gates are left
closed, bars left up, and no rails brok-
Ell, the pursuit Of such game on the
lands Of another without permission is
trcspa3s. 10 even enter an enclosed
piece of wood, where there arc no crops
In pursuit Of game which may
have taken refuse there, Is Il violation
OF law-tuito rs much rs If wheat
Fox hunts, which arc again becoming
common In certain sections Of thus and
the nciShboring counties are all in vic
lation ct the law, and every farmer
who's" ares arc passed. over by the
hunters, without his sanction having
been previously obtained, has recourse
In the law against tho Sportsmen for
:rcspass. In fishing, as in hunting,
the ordinary ponds anh streams arc the
exclusive property Of those through
whose lands they flow or in which they
happen to he situated. In the case Of
navlgablr streams, any one may boat
up and down %nu fish in them, but has
no right t,i itii.t Oil tho shores aiia do
so. y pond of whatever size on Il mans
farm, whether natural or Artificial. is
his exclusive property, and amy tishlrg
in it is lrcsrass, as is also the passing
to and from it by persons without per-
mission.