AN ACT for the preservation of Sheep. Passed February 23, 1811. On each On every Sec. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the council and general assembly of this state, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That every person who shall keep or harbor a dog or dogs above the age of three months, Taxonsinshall pay yearly and every year for one dog so gle dog. kept or harbored, the sum of fifty cents, and additional for every additional dog above one the sum of dog. five dollars, and for every slut the sum of five slut. dollars, although said slut be the only dog kept; which tax shall be levied and collected How col. at the same time and in the same manner as the other taxes in the several townships in each county in this state, and the assessor and collector shall severally be entitled to receive six cents for the tax on each dog or slut so assessed and collected. lected. for con 2. And be it enacted, That if any person shall Penalty wilfully neglect, refuse, or evade, to give a true cealing account of the number or age of the dog or dogs. dogs, slut or sluts, made taxable by this act and owned or harbored by him or her, he or she shall be liable for the tax aforesaid, and also subject to a fine of ten dollars for each and every dog so kept or harbored and not returned to the assessor when by him required, to be recovered by action of debt, with costs of suit, before any justice of the peace of the county, by any person who may prosecute for the same. Persons 3. And be it enacted, That any person or persons who shall have owned, kept or harbored, dogs liable harboring a dog or dogs, slut or sluts, for the term of one to the tax. month, in any one year, to commence on the twentieth day of May next, shall be considered Proviso. liable to the yearly tax as aforesaid, and subject to a fine of ten dollars as aforesaid, in case he, she or they, shall have neglected to make a due return thereof to the assessor as aforesaid -Provided always, That said person or persons who shall have paid said tax or incurred and paid said penalty, shall not again be so liable during the same year, for the tax or penalty on the same dog or slut, and every person that may possess the same dog or slut for which said tax or penalty may have been paid, shall be released from the payment of a second tax or penalty therefor in the same year, by pro- › ducing a certificate from the person who may have been assessed and paid the same: And Proviso. provided also, That it shall and may be lawful for the assessors of their respective townships to strike off his duplicate or rate-book the tax assessed against any person for a dog or dogs, on its being proven to the satisfaction of the assessor by the owner thereof, that he, she or they, have killed or caused to be killed such dog or dogs before the delivery of the duplicate to the collector. Further In what cases dogs may be killed. Proceeds 4. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any person to kill any dog or slut which may be found chasing, worrying or wounding any sheep or lamb, or that shall be at any time found running at large beyond the owner's premises without a collar affixed around its neck having the initial of the christian and the whole of the surname of the owner thereof legibly inscribed thereon. 5. And be it enacted, That the taxes colof tax, how lected by virtue of this act shall be approappropri priated exclusively to make good any losses sustained by any of the inhabitants of any of the townships in this state, by the destruction ated. or wounding of their sheep by dogs, and shall be kept as a fund by the township committee for said purpose, who shall pay all such dam. ages as may be sustained by any individual of said township in such proportion (if the monies so raised by said tax will not pay the whole amount thereof) as the sum in said fund will warrant at the annual settlement of the accounts of the said township; and if there should be an excess or surplusage of money after paying the damages so as aforesaid in any one year, the said surplusage may be appropriated for any other township uses; but nevertheless. the said surplusage shall be credited in the book of the said township for the purpose of paying any damages done by dogs in killing, worrying or wounding sheep, in any one year thereafter. 6. And be it enacted, That if any dog shall be found killing, worrying or wounding any Penalty for sheep or lamb, and the owner being informed not killing thereof shall neglect or refuse to kill such dog rying or dogs for the space of twelve hours, such sheep. owner shall forfeit and pay to any person who shall sue for the same, the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered by an action of debt before any justice of the peace of the county, with costs, and moreover shall be liable to pay treble damages for the second offence committed by such dog or dogs. dogs wor 7. And be it enacted, That when any per son shall have sustained any loss or damage Losses by by his or her sheep being killed or maimed dogs, how by a dog or dogs, it shall be lawful for such recovered. person to take two respectable freeholders of the township, who are in no wise of kin to the party so calling them, to view the sheep so killed or maimed, and if it shall appear to their Proviso. Further [Rev. 80] Former acts re pealed so far as re satisfaction that the said sheep was or were killed or maimed by a dog or dogs, then the said viewers shall make a return thereof in writing and under oath or affirmation to a justice of the peace of the county, containing the amount of damages such person or persons may have sustained, which shall in no case exceed five dollars for one sheep so killed or maimed; whereupon the said justice shall make an entry thereof in his docket, together with the amount of costs including seventyfive cents for each one of the said freeholders for their services, a certified copy whereof shall entitle such person or persons so injured to said sum from said township committee, or such proportion thereof as may be adjudg ed at the annual settlement of the township accounts to be his or their due agreeably to the funds then in their possession from the taxes aforesaid; Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend to cases wherein a recovery of damages can be had or obtained against the owner or owners of the dog or dogs which may have committed the injury; And provided also, That no person shall be entitled to receive compensation for any sheep killed or wounded unless he or she shall declare on oath or affirmation, that he or she know not by whose dog or dogs the injury was done. 8. And be it enacted, That the act entitled "An act to discourage the keeping of dogs by imposing a tax on the owners or keepers thereof," passed May the twenty-fourth, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, and the Counties.. act entitled "An act concerning dogs," passed March the thirteenth, eighteen hundred and Comp. 251 six, so far as relates to the operation thereof in lates to certain the counties of Essex, Somerset, Middlesex, Monmouth, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland and Cape-May, be and the same are hereby repealed. not to ap ties. 9. And be it enacted, That nothing in this This act act, nor any matter or thing therein contained, ply to cershall be considered as applicable to or in any tain coun way affect the counties of Sussex, Hunterdon, Bergen and Morris; but in those counties where this act is in force, the assessors and collectors shall be subject to the same fines and penalties for neglect of duty as are enjoined by the act for assessing and collecting taxes for the use of the state: Provided always, Proviso. That it shall be lawful for any inhabitant of the counties to which this act particularly applies, to kill any dog or slut that may come within their respective counties without the collar as aforesaid affixed around its neck. AN ACT concerning Dogs. Passed March 13, 1806. WHEREAS in some of the counties of this state, great havoc is committed upon sheep by dogs, which the existing laws are found inadequate to prevent; for remedy whereof, Sec. 1. BE IT ENACTED by the council and general assembly of this state, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act, Additional [Rev. 80] the inhabitants of each township be, and they tax on hereby are authorized and empowered at their dogs, annual town-meetings, to order to be levied, assessed and collected, such tax on dogs, in |