Ohio & Mississippi Railroad v. Brubaker

This was an action against a railway company for killing an ass, and the only question raised upon the record is, whether that animal falls within the protection of the statute which requires railway companies to erect and maintain fences “sufficient to prevent cattle, horses, sheep and hogs from getting on such railroad.”

This statute is not, as assumed by counsel for appellants, a penal statute, and, therefore, to be strictly construed. It is, on the contrary, a remedial statute, imposing a reasonable duty on railway companies, and furnishing a remedy to parties injured in case that duty is…