The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-25
THE DOG IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
Supreme Court There Has Made the
Animal prOperty

hHOpOftys
Columbia, S. C., June 24.-At last the
South Carolina canine knows where he Is
at Whatever his pedigree. whatever his
color-"yaller," blindle, black or white
no less a power than the Supreme Court
in solemn and unanimous array has elevat-
ed the dog TO the dignity of a chattel and
the decree that 10 take him against the
wish of his owner is larceny.
In this decision the Supreme Court over
rules the Circuit Court which quashed an
indictment against George Langston
charged with stealing a dog from Mary
Nichols, the lower court holding a dog was
not subject of larceny. nor was breaking
into a dog house and stealing goods there
from burglary-a dog having no standing
before the law.
justice Ira %. Jones, former speaker of
the House of Representatives, in delivering
the opinion Of the court says:
The first and principal question pre-
sented is whether dog is the subject of
larceny. BY the old common law Lac
ceny could not be committed of dog.
The reasons assigned for this were the
baseness of the nature of the creature;
that it was kept for mere within and pleas
ure; that, being unfit for food IL was of
no intrinsic value; that the penalty for
the felony OF larceny was too severe 10
creature. By the statute of 10,
George III, chapter IS George III was
fond of stag hunting, the taking and car
rying away of dog was punishable, out
not of larceny. Under the reasoning salts
factory at that day it was larceny to steal
tame hawk, but not larceny to steal a
tame dog, although it was larceny to steal
the hide Of a dead dog. Yet by the COM
mon law dogs were held to be such prop
erty as would sustain an action of power
for their recovery. Civil remedies were
permitted for inquiry to or loss of dogs,
and they would go 20 the executors and
administrators as property. The reason
for the outlawry of dogs in favor of
thieves can hardly be regarded as persua-
sive at this day and here, and such crude
application of the principles of the com
mon law must yield 90 common sense.
The fitness of an animal for food Is
not the fullest of its value TO mankind; its
capacity for usual service in other ways
is often the real test of value. Nor is the
fact that an animal is kept for within and
pleasure OF Its owner any sort of reason
for excluding it from the law of larceny
as thing of no value, for amusement
has It's valuable uses for men. Neither Is
it just to say of the dog that its nature Is
so based as to render IL unworthy of pro-
lection as absolute property, for Baron
Cuvier says the dogs is the compile test,
conquest ever made by man.
When We are told that the Greeks and
Romans employed dogs in war, armed with
spiked collars, and that Corinth was saw
ed by war dogs, which attacked and
checked the enemy until the sleeping gar
rison were aroused we better understand
Shakespeare's Antony when he said. Cry
havoc and let slip the dogs of war We
should not let contempt for sheep-killing
dogs and our dread of hydophobia do in
justice to the noble Newfoundland that
braves the water and rescues the drown
ing child; to the Esquimaux dog, the bur
den-bearer of the Arctic regions; to the
sheep-dog that guards the shepherds
locks and makes sheep raising possible in
some Countries to the st. Bernard dog,
trained to rescue travellers lost or buried
in the SHOWS of the Alps. TO the swift and
docile greyhound; to the paokage-carry-
ing spaniel; to the sagacious settlers and
pointers, through whose eager aid tables
are supplied with the game of the season;
to the fleet fox hound. whose music when
opening on the fleeing fox is sweet to
many ears; to the faithful watch dog,
whose honest bark, as Byron says Bays
deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near
home;' to the rat-exterminating terrier;
to the wakeful flee, which the burglar
breads more than he does the sleeping
master; to even the pug, whose ugliness
inspires the admiration of the mistress;
to the brag 'possum dog and coon dog, for
which the owner win fight If imposed
upon; ana, lastly, to the pet dog and play
mate of the American boy to say nothing
of the 'yaller' dog that defies legislatures
"Of all animals the dog is most domes-
tic. It's intelligence, docility and devotion
make 1t the servant, the companion and
the faithful friend of man. The raising
and training of dogs is now pursued by
many as a business; large sums of money
are invested in them, and they are bought
and sold as other property In this state,
by statute, dogs are and have long been
taxed as personal property, according to
value and for revenue. AS stated in Sally
VS.. r. r.. "a S. c., 4s4, What the law
taxes as personal property it will protect
as SUCH This legislation is potent In two
ways first, il the common law rule not
withstanding the fallacy Of the reasoning
upon which it is based as applied to pres
ent conditions, should be held of force in
this state in the absence of modification
by statute, there the statute taxing dogs
in the absence of modification by statute,
there the statute taxing dogs as personal
property ad valorem and for revenue is
a modification Of the common law rule;
second, ii brings dogs, as personal prop
erty and things of value. within the mean
ing Of 'chattels in our statute as to simple
larceny"
GEN. MERRITT'S NIECE TRICKED.