The Dog And The Law

Once it is established that the nature of the species is gentle and that every dog is a law abiding and peaceable Bruno then it becomes necessary, before liability for the vulgar transgressions of a fierce Towser can be fastened on the owner, that he should have previeras knowledge of the usual and not to be expected feature. This is called scienter, and until an owner has this knowledge of his dog's viciousness heis not responsi ble, though in the error of itsways not acting as becomes a gentleman of the dog species or a lady, as the case may be. To be more accurate and exaot, once a dog has departed from the narrow path of rectitude and demeaned itself in ways other than should obtain with a strictly proper and geutle animal, and the owner knows it, then it loses status and caste and must be put down as a vicioua animal, and the owner keeps it at hia peril. Lord Coleridge, it seems, was anxious to reduce the law on the subject to a nicety in the way of succinctness and brevity, and he succeeded by saying that "every dog is entitled to one bite, " and the case has special reference to spring lamb or veal. The expression is varied by making it "every