Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-06
THE LAW AND the DOG.
Legal Status Of CanInes-A Queer Reason
for the Determination Against Them
Under Common LAVA BIerited RuIogy

LEGAL Status Of CanIpes-A Queer Reason
for the Discrimination Against Them
Under Common LAVA BIerited RuIogy
on Our Abused Pets.
pRoBABLY few persons who have not read a
little law have ever thought thatproperty in
dogs is at all different from property in horses
or other domestic animals. They go to large
kennel shows and admire dogs which are worth
many hundreds OF dollars, thinking that they
would be glad to own such noble animals.
They see these dogs put through tricks that
show wonderful powers of comprehension and
memory, and they declare that the dog is the
most intelligent of all beasts 1t is a surprise
when they learn that a dog-a trained, intelli-
gent, afectionate dog-ean be stolen anG car
rled away. and at common law the owner will
nave no remedy. To take feloniously and carry
away other animals is larceny; but there is no
larceny OF dogs at common law.
The reason of this-for there is a reason
strikes us in these days as rather absurd says
writer In the Boston Transcript 1t takes us
paeK several centuries to time when society
and law were on different basis When the
early English law books were written it was
customary for the gentlemen of the realm to
keep various wild birds and beasts in a half
tanned condition to use for hunting Falcons
and hawks were commonly SO treated. In the
same way dogs were kept for sport and were
In truth only half domesticated. 1t was on the
TALLY wild nature--fere natura--and were not
wholly reclaimed, that it was not felony to
steal them. On this reasoning the lawyers got
themselves into the strange position of holding
was larceny to steal the skin of dead dog,
and to steal many animals of less account than
dogs"
A Great Injustice.
YET it was not held so of birds kept for sport
ing Lord Coke says in his Institutes: ,:
"Of some things that be fere nature, being
reclaimed, felony may be committed in respect
of their noble and generous nature and cour-
age serving OBJ vite solatium for the diver
sion) of princes and of noble and generous per-
sons to make them filter for great employ
ments, as all kinds of falcons and other hawks,
if the party that steals them know they be re-
claimed.''
Thus the dog was distinguished from the
falcon as being less noble and generous. 1t is
here that the great injustice seems to have
been perpetrated upon dogs. Not noble. in
deed, and generous! can imagine the ind1g-
nation with which an old sportsman would say
this as he thought of the many hours he had
spent with his dog and gun in rambling through
October woods. How a veteran gunner kim
dies at the suggestion; for those hours spent
with knowing pointer or sympathetic setter,
after the quail and partridge are among the
really joyous occasions of his life. II the flight
of falcons can stimulate noble natures to
greater fitness for high empleyments. surely
the companionship of loving dog, eager to
satisfy his master, is moral influence of no
less value.
In some States Judges have come to think
so, and to rule accordingly In New York and
New Hampshire decisions have been rendered
that the old common rule must be abrogated,
and dog thief be held for larceny.
A MercifuI Judge.
In one of these decisions the warm-hearted
Judge defended our abused pets with merited
eulogy: when we call to mind the small
spaniel that saved the life of William of
Orange, and thus probably changed the cur
rent of modern history e Motley's Dutch Re-
public, $685. and the faithful st. Bernards,
which, after a storm has swept over the crests
and sides of the Alps, start out in search Of lost
travellers the claim that the nature of dog
is essentially base, and that he should be left
prey to every vagabond who chooses to
nearly every household in the land can be
found chattels kept for the mere whim and
pleasure of the owner, source OF solace after
serious labor, exercising refining and elevat-
ing influence, and yet they are as much under
the protection of the law as chattels purely use
ful and absolutely essential. This common law
rule was extremely technical, and can scarcely
There is one other reason why, perhaps, dogs
were not included with the other domesticated
animals under the law Of larceny. Daring the
reign of William l. the grand larceny of chat
able by death. Lord Coke hints that it was not
fit that "a person should die for them" The
learned judge quoted above adds to this iron
ieally, land yet those ancient lawgivers thought
it not unfit that person should die for stealing
a tame hawk or falcon" Since we are not
ready to concede the superiority of hawks over
lz-1 H. kNI1 IS N-rf,,
''let the dog thief die, if need be, to protect
our dumb friends"
He Defended His Dog.
D ARELY do we hear of man who is ready to
die for his dog; yet this is not an unknown
case. by stander at a railroad station not
far from Boston might have seen courageous
deed in defense OF dog not many months ago.
A handsome Irish setter accompanied his mas
ter to the depot. where they were waiting for
train to the city. A train from town came first
and left number of passengers, among them
a man with an ugly bull terrier. The bull dog
had no sooner lighted on terra frma than he
yielded to his besetting temptation and picked
a quarrel with the gentlemanly setter. The
latter must have had some genuine Irish
blood in his veins, for he faced his tough little
opponent sturdily and gave tooth for tooth.
All would have ended harmlessly had not the
then, while the dogs were rolling over and over
on the tracks. Before one could think they
were down in front of the engine, closed on
each others necks. Then 1t was that the mas
ter's love for his favorite displayed itself. For
getful of the train and of his friends. he dashed
upon the track. clasped his beloved dog in his
arms. and staggered to one side hardly know
ing where to 90 in his excitement. 1t was a
very narrow escape. Not man on the plat
form expected to find him uniDjured when the
train came to a stop; but happy instinct
guided him in the direction OF safety, and both
man and dogs escaped unharmed.
When brute companions can eDdear them
selves in such way to their owners IL seems
The old reasoning has been reversed; it IS not |
from the baseness, but from the nobleness and |
fidelity of canine nature that we are unable to
value our dogs in dollars and cents IL is noe |
however, that men should die In de- |
Tending them; for In the absence OF common
law remedy the stealing of dogs Is now pun |
ished almost universally by statute.