Maxwell v. State

1. “Every person who shall instigate, engage in or do anything in furtherance of an act of cruelty to a domestic animal shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.” Penal Code, § 753. Section 755 provides that “The word ‘cruelty’ shall be held to include every willful act, omission or neglect, whereby unjustifiable [italics ours] physical pain, suffering or death is caused or permitted.” The gist of the offense set out in the above sections is “cruelty to domestic animals,” and the test is whether the injury inflicted upon the animal was, under the circumstances of the occasion, justifiable.…