RAILROAD FENCES.
In nearly every State, railroad companies are required by statute to construct and maintain legal and sufficient fences on both sides of their roads, except at crossings of public highways, in front of mills, depots, and other places where the public convenience requires that they shall be left open. The legal obligations of railroad companies to fence their roads rest wholly upon such statutes. In New Hampshire it is provided that if any railroad company shall neglect to maintain such fences, the owner of adjoining land may build them, and recover double the cost thereof of the company. It is generally held by the courts in all the States that, in the absence of such fencesthe railroad company is liable for all resulting damage to livestock, and no proof of contributory negligence on the part of the owner of livestock is allowed as a plea in defence, the statute requiring such fences being a police regulation. When the railroad company has built a sufficient fence on both sides of its road, it is not liable for injuries which may occur without negligence on its part. If the fence is overthrown by wind or storms, the company is entitled to reasonable time in which to repair it, and if cattle enter and are injured, without fault on the company’s part, it is not liable. If cattle stray upon the track at a crossing of a public road, and are killed, the owners cannot recover damages, unless the railroad company is guilty of gross negligence or intentional wrong. A law in Alabama making railroad companies absolutely liable for all stock killed on the tracks, was held to be unconstitutional.