Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1906-11-16
In A LEGAL SENSE.
SQUIRE RENDERS AN OPINION
AT LENGTH.
Hypothetical Question Looked at from
Many Points of View and Finally
Made Clear to the Mind.

Squire Aspinwall, who had been a
justice of the peace so long that the
oldest inhabitant could not remember
the date of his appointment, was
man who always deliberated well be-
fore answering question. He be- |
lieved in weighing his words and look
ing at the matter from every stand |
point before expressing positive |
opinion for or against. 1t once took
him 20 minutes to answer a man who
had asked him how far it was from
Pumpkin Center to New Brussels. The
| guideboards gave the distance as four
miles, but the squire was not willing
to say offhand that they were right,
although he admitted that four miles,
might be said to be approximately
correct. One day somebody put this
question to the squire:
IF you owned an apple tree which
stood SO near the line between your
lot and your neighbours that some OF
the limbs hung over the fence, would
your neighbor have the right to pick
the fruit which grew on the limbs that
projected above his property"
We'll" replied the squire, that's a
question that has to be considered IN
a good many ways, not sayin' that the
legal standin' of the tree amt clearly
fixed by statoot made and provided,
but as fer right and wrong there's
some things to be said for and some
against. Supposin' it wasn't the apple
tree, but horse belongin' to me that
walked up to the line fence and stuck
his head over. Would my neighbor
hev right to claim the horses head
] belonged to him? II SO, an he got
tired feedin' the head for nothin' he
} might put poison or somethin in the
grass and by KILN the head kill my
, part of the horse, too, whereas |
| couldn't do nothin' to him because he
could claim that he only wanted to
| kill his part of the horse and didn't
/ have nothin' agin my end, therefore,
, there would natchelly be some doubts
, in the mind of the jury, or, to wit, II
} your hen comes over into my barn and
lays her eggs, do the eggs aforesaid
. | belong to me or have you the right
) hereinbefore mentioned to come into
r my barn aforesaid and gather the said
J. eggs to have and to hold for your
heirs and assigns forever? Or we
might put 1T still another way, viz, II
you owned COW and she broke into
}. my meadow and her calf was borr
. there in the meadow aforesaid, would
4 the calf belong to me or to you? and
furthermore, if the law decided tha
. the calf belonged to me and you CAM
and drove your cow home, lettin' m!
q calf starve, could / sue you for dam
q ages? Which brings us back to tn
n fruit tree. S'posin' the law said tn
v fruit CROWN on the limbs that hum
a over the fence into your yard be
e longed to you, and done something
J. to the tree that would Kill 1t,
n sawed off the limbs that reache'
e across the fence, could you get dam
Z. ages from me for destroyin' you
IS proputty?
a "Or we might even put 1t anothe
: way yit, the same bein' that you plan
ed a watermelon seed in your garde
and the vine growed through the fenc
into my yard and melon growed
,r that end of 1t, and you seen that
T. was goin' to be mine when it got rip
Is and refused to hoe around the root
Of and the vine therefore commenced I
y, die, could git out mandamus to max
ly you keep the weeds pulled and nc
Id around the vine so. my melon Woul
lie have the nourishment it needed
Id grow big and git ripe? Or we migi
!" go even further and say that ! owne
Id a sheep and that my sheep aforesai
n tried to break into your field and g
ne stuck half way through the fenc
in Would you have the right to clip TIL
in part of the sheep aforesaid and sc
is the wool for your own profit? Their
at fore. we can only say that there a
IS, circumstances which being unforeset
m leads to hypothecations that air
ut strictly in accordance with the jurl
lis prudence laid down for the cases tn
tn might. as it were, be held In abe