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28 Ala. 655

Smith v. Causey

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided January 15, 1856

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1856-01-15

<p>[CASE TO RECOVER DAMAGES EOR INJURIES TO HOGS.]</p> <p>X. Admissibility of defendant’s declarations.- — In an action on the case, to recover .damages for injuries done to plaintiff's hogs, by defendant’s children and servants, while driving them out of his field, the defendant’s declaration, “ that plaintiff’s hogs were in the habit of running in his field, and that they should not-do it any more”, is admissible evidence for plaintiff, because it tends, though remotely, to show that the hogs which were injured belonged to plaintiff.</p> <p>2. Evidence confined to matters in issue. — If the declaration alleges that the injuries complained of were done by defendant’s children and servants, plaintiff cannot bo allowed to prove injuries done bythe defendant himself in person; and defendant’s threats that he would kill the hogs are therefore inadmissible, because they tend to show that he did kill them.</p> <p>3. General objection to evidence, of which part is legal. — A general objection to evidence, of which á part is legal, may be overruled entirely. ■</p> <p>4. TVhat authorizes recovery by plaintiff. — To authorize a recovery by plaintiff, in such an action, it is not necessary to prove that the particular act complained of, if done by defendant’s children and servants in the performance of their duty and service, was commanded by the defendant; nor that the defendant’s dogs were vicious, and that he knew it; nor that the injury was done entirely by the defendant’s dogs.</p> <p>5. Unnecessary averment, if descriptive, must be proved. — If the declaration alleges that the injury was done with the defendant’s dogs, the averment, though unnecessary, cannot be disregarded, since it is descriptive of the cause of action.</p>

Relies on Smith v. Causey · Gibson v. Hatchett

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1856-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently November 1954

1 federal appellate · 16 state decisions

4018561860187018801890190019101920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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WALKER, J.

¶1An issue was made up between the parties. The plaintiff filed a declaration in trespass on the case, for injury done to his hogs by the minor children, servants and employees of the defendant, while engaged for the defendant in the business of driving hogs and other stock out of defendant’s field. To this declaration the defendant pleaded not guilty, and upon that plea the trial was had. The rulings of the court, as shown in the bill of exceptions, are the only matters assigned for error.

¶2The court permitted the plaintiff to prove a declaration of *657the defendant, “ that plaintiff’s hogs were in the habit of running in his field, bnt that they should not do it any more, —that he would kill them.” So much of this testimony as conduced to show that plaintiff’s hogs “ were in the habit of running in tho defendant’s field”, and that “ they should not do it any more”, was admissible evidence, because it tended, though remotely, to show that the hogs which the servants of defendant injured in expelling them from the field were the property of plaintiff. Under the issue made up, the defendant’s threats to kill the hogs were not competent evidence. It was testimony conducing to show, that the defendant killed the hogs. Under the declaration, plaintiff had no right to prove any other damages, than those resulting from the carelessness and negligence of the defendant’s children and servants, in the business of driving and chasing hogs from the field. If the defendant injured the hogs himself, or his servants did so by his command, trespass would have been • the remedy; and even if case were the remedy, there is no averment in the declaration which would justify the admission of such proof. — 1 Chitty on Pleading, 131; Causey v. Smith, 22 Ala. 569. ■

¶3The court, however, did not err in overruling the defendant’s objection to the testimony above set forth, because the objection was a general one to' the whole of it, while a part of it was legal. — Gibson v. Hatchett & Brother, 24 Ala. 201.

¶4The defendant excepted to proof tending to show an injury done by him in person to the plaintiff’s hogs. This proof was clearly outside of tho issue before the jury, and inappropriate to the cause of action set forth in the plaintiff's declaration; and the court therefore erred in admitting it.

¶5The gist of this action is, tho injury resulting 'from the carelessness and negligence of the defendant’s servants, while engaged in the employ and service of the defendant, that employ and service being the chasing and driving of hogs from the field of defendant; and it was not necessary, to sustain the action, that the particular act done in the performance of such duty was commanded by the defendant, or that the defendant’s dogs were vicious, and he knew it. The declaration alleges that the injury was done with defendant's dogs. Under such a declaration, plaintiff could not recover *658for injuries done by other dogs; but it would not follow, because a part of the injury was done by other dogs, that the plaintiff could not recover for the part of the injury done by defendant’s dogs. From these considerations it follows, that the court properly refused each one of the four charges asked by the defendant.

¶6The court ei'red in its charge to the jury, that the ownership of the dogs was immaterial. The plaintiff averred that the dogs were the defendant’s; and, although this averment was unnecessary, yet, as it is descriptive of the tort complained of, it can not bo disregarded. The tort alleged is an injury done by the servants with defendant’s dogs.- To allow a recovery for an injury done with other dogs, would bo to set up by proof a cause of action different from that alleged, and of which the defendant had no notice. — 1 Chitty on Pleading, 392; 1 Greenleaf, 63, 64, 65; Causey v. Smith, 22 Ala. 569.

¶7For the errors which we have pointed out, the cause must be reversed, and remanded.

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