Davis v. Industrial Commission of Utah

• Court: Utah Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WEBER, J.
• Citation: Davis v. Industrial Commission of Utah, 59 Utah 607, 206 P. 267 (Utah 1922)
• Decision Date: 06 April 1922
• Docket Number: 3787
• Parties: DAVIS v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF UTAH et al

206 P. 267

59 Utah 607

DAVIS v. INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF UTAH et al

No. 3787

Supreme Court of Utah

April 6, 1922

Proceedings under the Industrial Act by Evan L. Davis for compensation for injuries, opposed by George W. Tripp employer. Compensation denied by the Industrial Commission and claimant brings proceedings to review the Commission's decision.

AFFIRMED.

Willard Hanson and A. H. Hougaard, both of Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

H. H. Cluff, Atty. Gen., J. Robt. Robinson, Asst. Atty. Gen., and C. W. Morse, all of Salt Lake City, for defendants.

WEBER, J. CORFMAN, THURMAN, and FRICK, JJ., concur. GIDEON, J. dissenting.

OPINION

WEBER, J.

The Industrial Commission having denied plaintiff compensation for alleged injuries, he brings this proceeding to review the Commission's decision.

At the time of the alleged injuries, plaintiff and others were in the employ of the defendant George W. Tripp. Plaintiff worked some 15 miles from the farm or ranch of his employer, and devoted his time exclusively to the work of herding sheep on the public domain. The Commission found:

"That on the 24th day of May, 1921, and for some time prior thereto, Mr. George W. Tripp, the defendant, had in his employ three or more workmen; that Mr. Evan L. Davis, the applicant, on said date was engaged by Mr. Tripp to herd sheep on the public domain. That two other employees of Mr. Tripp were also employed by Mr. Tripp to herd sheep on the public domain."

From these facts the Commission concluded:

"In view of the foregoing findings, the Commission concludes that on the 24th day of May, 1921, and for some time prior thereto, the defendant was an employer of agricultural laborers, and that the applicant on said date was employed by the defendant as an agricultural laborer. That the defendant is therefore not subject to the state industrial act, and the applicant's claim for compensation should be dismissed."

In accordance with the above conclusions compensation was denied.

The question is whether a sheep herder is included within the term "agricultural laborers" as used in section 3110 of the Utah Industrial Act, which is as follows:

"The following shall constitute employers subject to the provisions of this title:

"(1) The state, and each county, city, town and school district therein.

"(2) Every person, firm and private corporation, including every public utility, that has in service three or more workmen or operatives regularly employed in the same business, or in or about the same establishment, under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, except agricultural laborers and domestic servants, provided that employers who have in service less than three employes and employers of agricultural laborers and domestic servants shall have the right to come under the terms of this title by complying with the provisions thereof, and all rules and regulations of the commission." Laws 1919, c. 63.

"Agriculture" has been defined as the art of raising plants and animals for food for man. In The Americana it is said that in its accepted meaning agriculture--

"* * * not only includes the tillage of the soil and the cultivation of crops, but also the rearing and feeding of all kinds of farm live stock, and in some instances the manufacture of the products of the farm into such forms as may be more convenient or more valuable for use or for sale. The manufacture of butter and that of cheese constitute recognized branches of the art of agriculture. The distinction between arable agriculture, which includes the cultivation of the ground and the growth of crops, and pastoral agriculture, which comprises merely the feeding and management of the flocks and herds of the farm, has been observed since the earliest times: 'Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.' In modern times, and probably in some degree at all times within the historical period, the practice of arable agriculture has been commonly associated in greater or less degree with the keeping and tending of live stock; but over immense tracts of the world's surface that are unfitted for arable cultivation the practice of pastoral agriculture still prevails, as in ancient days, wholly unmixed with the plodding labors of the husbandman."

Webster defines "agriculture" as:

"The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the harvesting of crops and rearing and management of livestock * * * tillage * * * husbandry * * * farming."

In 2 C. J. § 1, p. 988, it is said:

"The term 'agriculture' has been defined to be the 'art or science of cultivating the ground, especially in fields or large quantities, including the preparation of the soil, the planting of seeds, the raising and harvesting of crops, and the rearing, feeding, and management of live stock; tillage, husbandry, and farming.' In its general sense the word also includes gardening or horticulture."

Every standard authority that defines the word "agriculture" includes in the definition the rearing and care of live stock.

Doubtless the Legislature used the words "agricultural laborers" in their plain, usual, and commonly accepted sense and as defined by lexicographers. There is no reason for believing that it was intended that the words should be...