642
Smith r. Pelah (supra): Fake г: Addicks,
45 Minn. 37.
Line v. Taylor, 3 F. & F. 732. Jones v. Perry, z Esp. 482; Webber v. Iloag, 8 N. V. Supp. 76.
Keightlinger!•. F.gan, 65 Ill. 235; Linck r. Scheffel, 27 Ill. App. at p. 20. Morris v. Nugent, 7 C. & P. 572.
Smillie v. Boyd, 24 Sc. L. R. 148; Muller v. McKesson, 73 N. Y. 195. Sarch -'. Blackburn, 4 C. & P. 297; Loomis v. Terry, 17 Wend. (N. Y.) 497. Beckwith 7'. Shoredike, 4 Burr. 2092; Green v. Uoyle, 2i Ill. App. 208. McKone v. Wood, 5 C. & P. i; Wood r. Vaughan, 28 N. B. 472.
Xor, if provoked to make bite "number two," Will that avail to shield him from his rue. Aye, more, once Towser bites, he may be brought, In proprio corpore, before the Court; There to assist the drowsy jury's mind In judging if his owner deemed him kind; And if the jury learn he has been chained, Thus the scienter they may find maintained. In self-defence a bite's within the law, But let the dog bite quick or hold his jaw; If he delays and later vents his spite, He's simply slept upon his legal right. "If I am bitten, I may kill!" you say; Not so if Towser bites and runs away. (The Muse digresses—but not ours to damn: Que voulez-vous? Peste! C'est méthode de femme.) A man may keep a vicious dog to guard His curtilage—but let him be in ward; If licensees are bitten when they enter, A judgment's theirs sans proof of the scienter. But trespassers at night fare not so well, They risk the canine being kind or fell. Tho' when you trespass, with your dog appendar.t, His bite will throw all burdens on defendant. E'en harbouring a dog you do not own Will mulct von if his viciousness be known.
EPILOGUE. And so the doctrine runs at Common Law, When mortals suffer from the canine jaw. So, be he bitten, 'tis beyond dispute A man is worser off than a dumb brute. For when of sheep your dog proves a tormenter The plaintiff need not set up the scictttcr; You're liable by statute, and are fined Whether 'you knew the culprit fierce or kind. The moral is : Guard Towser all you can; But ivhcn he bites, pray let him bite a man!
