Section 2 of chapter 133 of the Laws of 1883 provides that "any and all notices and advertisements in any and all suits, actions, and special proceedings in any court, or before any judge of any court of this State, now required or allowed to be published in the State paper, shall hereafter be published in such newspaper published in the county wherein the place of trial is designated, or wherein the papers in such special proceedings are required to be, or are, filed as shall be designated by such court or judge." As regards the third question, the receiver can sell the property before publication notifying creditors to present claims, by obtaining an order of the court empowering him to do so. Very truly yours. S. W. ROSENDALE, Dog tax- Collection thereof. Dog tax unpaid to be collected by board of supervisors in the same manner as other State, county and town taxes. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, WILLIAM HERRING, Esq., Laurens, Otsego County, N. Y.: The DEAR SIR. Your letter of the first instant at hand. assessors of every town or city or ward of a city are required to annex to the assessment-roll of real and personal estate therein, made by them annually, the assessment provided by law against the owners of dogs, and return the same to the supervisor to be by that officer laid before the board of supervisors, to be by that board collected in the same manner as other State and county and town taxes. I am unable to comply with your request to send you a copy of the law. You will observe, however, that the tax on dogs is collected in the same manner as taxes on real estate are collected; and if you have access to the Revised Statutes, you will find the law complete in volume 3, Revised Statutes, eighth edition, page 2388. Very truly yours. S. W. ROSENDALE, Attorney-General. Sheep, protection of, from dogs-Remedies of owners of sheep killed by dogs-In what town to institute proceeding-Liabilities of owners of dog. The value of sheep destroyed by dogs in Saratoga county to be paid by supervisor, on certificate of justice of peace, approved by town auditors. The proceeding for collection of such claim should be instituted in town where the damage was done. The owner of a dog is liable for the value of the sheep destroyed by said dog, and any person may kill a dog which he sees killing sheep. Owner of dog which has killed sheep must, on notification of such fact, kill the dog, or be liable to penalty. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, HENRY D. SPAFFORD, Esq., Mechanicville, N. Y.: DEAR SIR. Your letter of the twenty-first of December, addressed to the Secretary of State, has been referred to this department. In reply thereto I beg leave to state that chapter 200 of the Laws of 1865 was "An act to protect sheep husbandry in the county of Saratoga and to impose a tax on dogs." Under the provisions of that act any person having any sheep killed or injured by dogs in said county should apply to any justice of the peace of the town where such damage was done. The justice is empowered to inquire into the matter and examine witnesses, and if he is satisfied that the sheep were killed or injured by dogs, and in no other manner, he may make and sign a certificate to that effect, stating the amount of damage, together with his fees. The certificate so made is laid before the board of town auditors at their next annual meeting, and if that board is satisfied that the amount of damage is just and fair, if the owner of the sheep has been unable to collect the amount from the owner of the dog or dogs, that board shall then give an order on the supervisor for the amount stated in the certificate. It would appear from the reading of this statute that the town where the damage was done was the proper locality to institute and carry on the proceeding. The general statutes of the State make the owner of the dog liable to the owner of the sheep injured by such dog, and authorize any person who shall see a dog killing a sheep to kill the dog. The statute also provides for notice to the owner or possessor of the dog or dogs that shall have killed or injured sheep to cause such dog or dogs to be killed, and prescribes a penalty for failure by the owner or possessor to kill such dog or dogs, which penalty is to be recovered in an action brought by the supervisor of the town. (R. S., vol. 3, 8th ed., pages 2384 and following.) Yours very truly. S. W. ROSENDALE, Sheep, protection of, from dogs-Remedies of owner of sheep destroyed by dogs — Liabilities of owner of dogs. Fence viewers are to inquire into facts as to destruction of sheep by dogs on request of party injured and to certify value of sheep so destroyed. Town auditors, if satisfied that the sheep owner has not recovered damages for sheep from the owner of dog, shall give an order on supervisor fo amount allowed by them. Amount obtained from supervisor shall be refunded, if recovery is afterwards had from the dog's owner. The foregoing law is applicable to Ontario county and to all other counties where it may be adopted by the board of supervisors. Substantially the same rules are applicable to the remaining counties of the State, except that damage is to be paid by the county treasurer, on an order from the board of supervisors. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ALBANY, January 4, 1892. ELDRED FROST, Esq., Covert, Seneca county, N. Y.: DEAR SIR.In reply to your letter addressed to AttorneyGeneral Tabor, with reference to the power of the supervisor of a town to pay from the fund in his hands, raised by tax on dogs, claims for damages to sheep, I beg leave to state: We have in this State a general statute with reference to the tax on dogs, and payment of damages arising from the action of dogs killing sheep; also a second statute, which was passed with reference to tax on dogs, so far as the same related to the county of Ontario. The second statute empowered the board of supervisors of any county in the State, by resolution, to extend and make applicable that act to any county in the State. If the board of supervisors of the county of Seneca have extended the provisions of the so-called Ontario county act to that county, then, under that act, the collector of taxes pays over to the supervisor of the town the fund collected by him from the tax levied upon dogs, which constitutes a town fund for the payment of damages arising in said town from dogs killing or injuring sheep. The fence viewers are empowered to inquire into the matter, and examine witnesses; and if satisfied that sheep were killed by dogs, and in no other way, to certify such fact and the value of the sheep, together with the amount of their fees, which certificate is presented to the board of town auditors at their annual meeting, and that if that board is satisfied that the claimant has not been able to discover the owner or possessor of the dog by which such damage was done, or that he has failed to recover his damages of said owner or possessor, they shall give an order on the supervisor of the town for the amount which they shall allow, and the supervisor shall pay the same out of the fund arising under the provisions of the act. If, after receiving the amount of such damage from the supervisor, the owner of the sheep recovers the value thereof from the owner or possessor of the dog, he is required to refund and repay to the supervisor the amount so recovered. Under the general statute, applicable to all counties, the owner of any dog that shall kill or wound any sheep or lamb is liable for the value of such sheep or lamb to the owner thereof. The owner of the sheep that may be killed may apply to any two fence viewers of the town or assessor of the city or ward of the city, who shall inquire into the matter, examine witnesses in relation thereto, and if satisfied that the sheep were killed or hurt only by dogs, shall certify such fact, the number of sheep killed and the amount of damage sustained thereby by the owner. Such certificate is presumptive evidence of the facts contained therein, in any suit against the owner or possessor of any dog, under certain circumstances, in an action against that party. If the owner or possessor of the dog can not be discovered, or the value of the sheep killed or injured recovered against the owner or the possessor of the dog, then the party may apply to the supervisor of the town and produce the certificate mentioned, with an affidavit of his failure to discover the owner or possessor of the dog, or to recover his damages from such owner or possessor and the supervisor then shall lay the same before the board of supervisors of the county at their next meeting. The board of supervisors shall thereupon issue their order upon the county treasurer for the amount of the damage, which shall be paid to the owner of the sheep, in the event that he has not recovered the value of the sheep from the owner or possessor of the dog. I have referred generally to the provisions of the statutes, in order to put you in possession of the procedure necessary to entitle the owner of the sheep to recover the value of the same, as well as to advise you, as supervisor, of the only method in which you should pay the money in such cases. Yours very truly. S. W. ROSENDALE, Town meetings- When to be held. Town meetings in counties of less than 300,000 inhabitants should be held on the second Tuesday in February unless another time is designated by the board of supervisors. ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE, LORING W. OSBORNE, ESQ., Justice of the Peace, Altamont, N. Y.: DEAR SIR. Your communication of the fifth instant, requesting my opinion as to the date at which town meetings are to be held in the several towns of the county of Albany, the board of supervisors of said county having failed at their last session to fix the date for holding the annual town meetings, duly received. Prior to 1890 the town meetings in the several towns in the respective counties in the State were required to be held on some day between the first day of February and the first day of May of each year, to be appointed by the boards of supervisors of the several counties by resolution, so that the town meeting of every town in the county should be held on the same day. By chapter 589 of the Laws of 1890, article II, section 10, it was provided that, in counties containing less than 300,000 inhabitants, the town meetings should be held on the second Tuesday of February, at such place in each town as the electors thereof at their annual town meeting should, from time to time, appoint. |