State v. Sumner

-This was an indictment against Thomas Sumner for maliciously killing a dog of the value of 10 dollars, the property of Nicholas Fisher. The Court quashed the indictment on the ground, we are informed-by counsel, that a dog was not regarded by the law as of any value.

The common law divides animals having the power of locomotion, exclusive of man, into three classes, viz., such as are domitce natura — tame animals; such as are *378ferae naturae — wild animals; and such as, whether wild or tame, are of so base a nature as not to be the subject of larceny. This latter class is composed out of the…