State v. Brown

• Decision Date: 30 August 1900
• Citation: 72 Vt. 410,48 A. 652
• Parties: STATE v. BROWN.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

48 A. 652

72 Vt. 410

STATE

v. BROWN.

Supreme Court of Vermont. Lamoille.

Aug. 30, 1900.

Proceeding by the state against P. B. Brown for keeping a dog not licensed according to law. Pending the demurrer, the court, against the objection of the respondent, permitted the state's attorney to amend the complaint. Demurrer overruled, and amended complaint adjudged sufficient The respondent excepted, and the cause was passed to the supreme court before final judgment. The original complaint charged, in substance, that the respondent, at Belvidere, in Lamoille county, on the 1st day of April. 1899, kept a dog, more than 8 weeks old, not then and there registered, numbered, described, and licensed according to law. By the amendment referred to the date of the alleged unlawful keeping was changed from April 1, 1899, to June 1, 1899. The amendment of V. S. 4821 by No. 97, Acts 1900, may be noted. Reversed.

Argued before ROWELL, TYLER, MUNSON, START, THOMPSON, and WATSON, JJ.

L. J. Thompson, State's Atty.

B. A. Hunt, for respondent.

WATSON, J. The owner or keeper of a dog more than 8 weeks old shall annually cause it to be registered, numbered, described, and licensed on or before the 1st day of April, for one year from that date, and pay for such license one dollar for each male or spayed female and four dollars for each female dog; and, when not thus paid, the owner or keeper may procure a license on or before the 15th day of May by paying two dollars for each male or spayed female, and four dollars for each female dog. V. S. 4821. And if, after the 15th day of May, a person becomes the owner or keeper of a lawfully unlicensed dog, he may have such dog licensed within 10 days after he becomes the owner or keeper. V. S. 4822. The law contemplates that a license tax shall be paid on every dog more than 8 weeks old which may be lawfully owned or kept, and the provisions of the latter section are applicable to dogs brought from without the state subsequent to the time when they could be licensed under the provisions of the former section, and to such as become more than 8 weeks old after that time. In either case the owner or keeper has 10 days in which to pay the tax, and within that time he is not keeping a dog contrary to the provisions of law referred to in V. S. 4826, upon which the complaint is based. If the dog named in the complaint was lawfully unlicensed because brought from without the state within 10 days prior to the 1st day of April, 1899, or...