The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1906-12-15
in A LEGAL SENSE.
SQUIRE RENDERS AN OPINION
At LENGTH.
hypothetical Question Looked Il from
Many Points Of View and Finally
Made Clear to the Mind.


Justice of the peace 80 long that the
oldest inhabitant could not remember
the date of his appointment. was .
man who always deliberated well be-
fore answering q question. He be-
lieved In weighing his words and look
Ing at the matter from every stand
point before expressing q 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 ofYhand 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 neighbors 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"
WELL" replied the squire. "that's
question that has to be considered ia
q good many ways, not sayin mat the
Legal standin' of the tree amt clearly
fxed 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 beiongin' 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 get
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 l
| 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
my barn aforesaid and gather the said
eggs to have and to hold for your
heirs and assigns forever? Or We
| might put 1t still another way. VIZ. II
you owned a COW and she broke into
INV meadow and her calf was born
| there in the meadow aforesaid, would
| the calf belong to me or to you? and.
| furthermore, II the law decided that
the calf belonged to me and you came
and drove your COW home, lettin' my
calf starve, could / sue you for dam
sges? Which brings US back to the
fruit tree. S'posin' the law said the
fruit CROWN on the limbs that hung
over the fence into your yard be.
:onged to you, and done something
20 the tree that would kill it. or
sawed on the limbs that reached
across the fence, could you get dam.
ages from me for destroyin' your
rroputtyf
"Or we might even put 1t another
way yit, the same bein' that you plant
ed a watermelon seed in your garden
and the vine growed through the fence
into my yard and melon growed on
that end Of it, and you seen that II
was goin' to be mine when 1t got ripe
and refused to hoe around the roots
and the vine therefore commenced to
die, could git out mandamus to make
you keep the weeds pulled and hoe
around the vine so my melon would
have the nourishment it needed tt
grow big and git ripe? Or we might
go even further and say that / owned
sheep and that my sheep aforesaid
tried to break into your field and go'
stuck half way through the fence
Would you have the right to clip thai
part of the sheep aforesaid and sci
the wool for your own profit? There
fore, we can only say that there arr
circumstances which being unforeseen
leads to hypothecations that aim
strictly in accordance with the juris
prudence laid down for the cases tina
might, as 1t we're. be held in abey