Hicks

Action to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff on account of trespass committed by defendant’s livestock.

The case was tried before a jury which rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff, upon which a judgment was entered against defendant, whose motion for a new trial was denied and from which order he appeals.

It appears that plaintiff was a tenant in possession, under a lease from, the owner, of the premises involved, upon which at the time of the trespass he had certain fields of alfalfa growing, and a lot of unbaled hay in the stack; that during the period extending from July 1 to November 1, 1910, defendant’s neat cattle entered upon said land, ate and destroyed the growing alfalfa and stacks of hay thereon.

Neither the complaint nor proof showed the premises to have been at the time inclosed by a substantial fence, and appellant, conceding the trespass and resultant damage as alleged, insists that plaintiff is not entitled to recover therefor. In 1878 the legislature passed an act entitled, “An act eon cerning trespassing of animals upon private lands in certain counties in the State of California” (Stats. 1877-78, p. 176), which act and the…