Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-01-31
Laws Interesting to Landholders.

But few persons understand the ma
ture of their rights and privileges in re-
gard to fencing and the adjacent public
roads, and frequently impositions and
losses are practiced upon them by own
ers of cattle and hogs trespassing upon
their enclosures, sometimes destroying
growing crops and inhicting other in
Jurles and annoyances u a consi,ierab !;
extent, and frequently causing un-
| pleasant feelin-s between ,neighbors.
In addition to these troubles, which are
OF long standing, new evil has been
produced of late in the multiplicity of
telegraph lines, which are being erected
throughout the couutry, the companies
or their contractors for the erection of
the poles for the laying of the wires,
not only occupying the public roads fer
the purposes of their corporations, bu.
| absolutely cutting the trees on these
highways and the adjacent property
without any authority 50 to do from
the owners thereof This has been
done recently in Baltimore county, and
suits have been instituted for damages
by owners of the llnd, and we find that
similar suits have been instituted in
Hartford county under similar circum-
stances. We hope that the laws of
Mary land or the common law NAV reach
these intruders on the property of the
legitimate owners of the soil, and that
not only pecuniary damage may be in-
fiicted, but that the trespassers may be
punished for their audacity by suitable
fines and Imprisonment
We have before given some extracts
from the laws on such subjects from
Judge Benefits work, and the follow
ing additional item upon the "Rights
OF the Road" cannot but be ofinterest, at
the present time, and every landholder
should preserve the extracts for their
guidance in the maintenance of their
rights. Judge Bennett says:
eff farm deed is bounded by, on or
upon road. it usually extends to the
middle of the roadway. The farmer
owns the soil of half the road, and may
use the grass, trees, stone, gravel, sand,
or anything of value to him, either on
the land or beneath the surface, subject
only to the superior rights of the'pubic
to travel over the road, and that of the
highway surveyor to use such material
for the repair Of the road. and these
materials he may cart away and
use elsewhere on the road No
other man has right to feed his cat
tie there, or cut the grass or trees,
much less deposit his wood, old carts,
or wagons thereon. The owner of a
drove of cattle that stops to feed in |
front of your land, or of drove of
pigs that root up the soil, is respon-
sible at law as much as if they |
did the same things inside the fence
No private person has right to |
cut or lop off the limbs of your trees
in order to move his old barn or 9th.
er buildings along the highway, and
no traveller can hitch his horse to
your trees on the sidewalk without
being liable, if he gnaws the bark or
otherwise injures them. If your well |
stands partly OH your land and partly
outside the fence, no neighbor can use
it except by your permission. Nay,
more, no man has a right to stand in
front Of your land and insult you with
abusive language without being liable
to you for trespassing on your land
He has right to pass and repass in
an orderly and becoming manner;
right to use the road, but not to abuse
it. But Notwithstanding the farmer
oN MS the soil of the road, even he can
not use it for any purpose which inter-
feres with the use of it by the public
for travel lie cannot put bis pig pen,
wagons, wood or other things there if
the highway surveyor orders them
away as obstructing public travel If
he leaves such things outside his fence,
and within the limit of the highway as
actually. laid, though some distance
from the travelled path, and traveller
runs in to them at night and is injured,
the owner is not only liable to him for
private damages but may also be in
dicted and fined for obstructing a pub
lie highway And if he has a fence
or wall along q public highway he
must place it all ON his own land, and
not half on the road as in case of divis-
ion fences between neighbors. But as
be owns the soil, if the road is discon-
tinued or located elsewhere, the land
reverts to him, and he may inclose it to
the center and use it as part of his
farm