Poole

Plaintiff brought this action to recover possession of six head of horses. The answer alleges that at all times mentioned in the complaint the defendant was the constable of Woodland Township; that the horses were by the owner “permitted to run and be at large and to go unrestrained and to pasture and graze upon the public highways within the boundaries of the said Woodland Township . . . contrary to the provisions of section one of . . . Ordinance No. 63 of Yolo County; that . . . the defendant, acting in his official capacity as constable of said Woodland Township, took up and impounded the said domestic animals . . . under and by virtue of the provisions of said Ordinances No. 63 and No. 94 of Yolo County”; and that plaintiff refused to pay the “fees, expenses and costs due the defendant by reason of the impounding of the said animals under the provisions of said Ordinance No. 94.”

The ordinance further provides that the constable shall give notice of the taking up of such animals in the manner usually required in cases of estrays and sell them, if not claimed by the owner and the fees and charges paid within a prescribed time, and gives the constable a lien on the animals…