| Show IN A LEGAL SENSE SQUIRE RENDERS AN OPINION AT LENGTH hypothetical question looked at from many points of view and finally made clear to the mind squire aspinwall who had been a justice of the peace so long that the oldest inhabitant could not remember the date of his appointment was a man who always deliberated well be tore answering a question he be lieveld in weighing his words and look ing at the matter from every stand point before expressing a positive opinion tor or against it once took him 20 minutes to answer a man who had asked him how far it was from pumpkin center to new brussels the gulde boards gave the distance as four miles but the squire was not willing to say offhand 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 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 a question that has to be considered in a good many ways not sayin that the legal of the tree ain t clearly fixed by made and provided but as fer right and wrong there s some things to be said for and some against supposing Sup it gasn wasn t the apple tree but a horse be longin to me that walked up to the line fence and stuck his head over would my neighbor hev a right to claim the horse s head belonged to hima it so an he got tired feadin the head tor bothin he might put poison or ethin in the grass and by kallin the head kill my part of tho horse too whereas I 1 do bothin to him because he could claim that he only wanted to kill his part of the horse and have bothin agin my end therefore there would nat chelly be some doubts in the mind of the jury or to wit it your hen comes over into my barn and lays her eggs do the eggs aforesaid belong to me or hav eyou the right hereinbefore mentioned to come into my barn aforesaid and gather the said eggs to have and to hold tor your heirs and assigns forever 7 or we might put it still another way viz it you owned a cow and she broke into my meadow and her calf was born there in the meadow aforesaid euid the calf belong to me to youa and furthermore jf the law decided that the calf beloyed belo sed to me and you came and drove your cow home lettin my calf starve could 1 sue you tor dam ages which brings us back to the fruit tree S the law said the fruit browin on the limbs that hung over the fence into your yard be longed to you and I 1 done something to the tree that would kill it or cawed off the limbs that reached across the fence could you get dam ages from me for destroy in your pro putty or we might even put it another way alt the same bein that you plant ed a watermelon seed in your garden and the vine through the fence into my yard and a melon on that end of it and you seen that it was coln to be mine when it got ripe and refused to hoe around the roots and the vine therefore commenced to die could I 1 git out mandamus to make you keep the weeds pulled and hoe around the vine so my melon would have the nourishment it needed to grow big and git or we might go even further and sa that I 1 owned a sheep and that my sheep aforesaid tried to break into your field and got stuck half way through the fence would you have the right to clip that part of the sheep aforesaid and sell the wool tor your own there fore we can only say that there are circumstances which being unforeseen leads to hypothecations that ain t strictly in accordance with the luris prudence laid down for the cases that might as it were be held in abey ance |
