Finley ex rel. Boone County v. Langston
Supreme Court of Missouri
APPEAL FROM BOONE CIRCUIT COURT. STATEMENT OF THE CASE. This was aguí fain action, by Finley, against Langston,in the Boone circuit court, to recover the penalty of three hundred dollars, given by the first section of the act of the 26th of January, 1835, against the firing of woods, marshes and prairies.
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APPEAL FROM BOONE CIRCUIT COURT. STATEMENT OF THE CASE. This was aguí fain action, by Finley, against Langston,in the Boone circuit court, to recover the penalty of three hundred dollars, given by the first section of the act of the 26th of January, 1835, against the firing of woods, marshes and prairies. The declaration charges that the defendant wilfully set on fire the two mile prairie, not occupied by him, with intent to burn the same, and thereby burned up the fences, grain and hay of three persons, Robards, and the two Wright’s. The cause was tried on the plea of nil debit at the last…
1Opinion of the Court
Napton, judge,
delivered tbe opinion of the court.
This proceeding was founded on the statute to prevent the firing of woods, marshes and prairies. The statute is very plain, and scarcely admits of misconstruction. It declares that whoever wilfully sets on fire a prairie, marsh or woods, and that fire occasions damage to another, shall forfeit a specified penalty. It is also provided that this penalty shall not be exacted where a person is burning up any thing on his own farm and the fire accidentally escapes to an adjoining prairie or woods.
The facts of the present case were these : The…
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