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58 N.H. 513

Craig v. Gerrish

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided March 5, 1879

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1879-03-05

Debt, under Gen. St., c. 105, s. 8. The evidence tended to show that the plaintiff was bitten by a dog kept on the defendant’s premises, June 21, 1876.

Relies on Barnett v. Atlantic & Pacific Railroad · Howe v. Plainfield · Perkins v. Concord Railroad

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1879-03-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently September 1984

4 state decisions

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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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Stanley, J.

¶1 It was competent for the witness to state the complaints made by the plaintiff, and how she used her arm after the injury. Perkins v. R. R., 44 N. H. 223; Howe v. Plainfield, 41 N. H. 135; Spear v. Richardson, 34 N. H. 428.

¶2 The question raised by the first ground of the motion for a nonsuit is decided in Orne v. Roberts, 51 N. H. 110; and we see no reason to change it. The second ground of the motion was, that the statute, authorizing the recovery of double damages, is unconstitutional. It is conceded, that, if it is a penal statute, it is not open to this objection. The language used, “ shall forfeit to the person injured to be recovered in an action of debt,” conveys that idea. Forfeiture implies that the double damages are a penalty. It was to discourage the keeping of such dogs that the penalty was imposed. Again : the remedy for the recovery of the penalty is debt, and this is the remedy peculiarly appropriate to recover penalties and forfeitures. It is *514 the remedy where no other is prescribed. It is suited to the nature of the claim. Morrison v. Bedell, 22 N. H. 234; Barnett v. A. Sf P. R. R., 68 Mo. 56.

¶3 Judgment on the verdict.

Smith, J., did not sit: the others concurred.
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