Harris v. Anderson County Sheriff's Office

This appeal requires the Court to construe section 47-3-110 of the South Carolina Code (1987), the so-called dog bite statute. The narrow question before us is the meaning of the term “or” in section 47-3-110. The broader question requires us to discern the degree, if any, to which the Legislature retained the application of common law principles in section 47-3-110.

In construing the term “or” consistent with its common understanding as a disjunctive, we hold section 47-3-110 allows a plaintiff to pursue a statutory claim against the owner of the dog “or other person having the dog in his…