Chapter 323.
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CHAP. 323.— AN ACT to create a revenue in the District of Columbia by levying a tax upon all dogs therein, to make such dogs personal property, and for other purposes.June 19, 1878. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*,District of Columbia.Dog-tax in. That there shall be levied a tax of two dollars each per annum upon all dogs owned or kept in the district of Columbia; said tax to be collected as other taxes in said District are or may be collected.
Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the collector of taxes, upon receipt ofTax-tags. said tax, to give to the person paying the same, for each dog so paid for, a suitable metallic tag, stamped with the year, showing that said tax has been duly paid; and he shall keep a record of all such payments, Record.with the date thereof, and the name, color, and sex of such dog, and the name of the person claiming any dog so paid for; and a copyEvidence of payment. of such record, certified tinder the hand and official seal of the said col lector, which shall be given to any person demanding the same, upon payment of twenty-five cents therefor, shall be primafacie evidence of such payment in any court of the District of Columbia.
Sec. 3. The poundmaster of the District of Columbia shall, duringDogs without tags. the entire year, seize all dogs found running at large without the tax- 174 FORTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 323. 1878. tag, issued by the collector aforesaid, attached, and shall impound the same; and if, within forty-eight hours, the same are not redeemed, by the owners thereof, by the payment of two dollars, they shall be sold or destroyed, as the poundmaster may deem advisable; and any sale made by virtue hereof shall be deemed valid to all intents and purposes in all the courts of the District of Columbia.
Sec. 4. Any dog wearing the tax-tag hereinbefore provided for shall Dogs with tags to be person al property.be permitted to run at large in the District of Columbia, and shall be regarded as personal property in all the courts of said District; and any person injuring or destroying the same shall be liable to a civil action for damages, which, upon proof of said injuring or killing may be awarded in a. sum equal to the value usually put upon such property by persons buying and selling the same, subject to such modification as the particular circumstances of the case may make proper, Sec. 5.
Any person owning any dog so recorded in the collector’sInjuries by dogs. office shall be liable in a civil action for any damage done by said dog to the full amount of the injury inflicted. Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of any person owning or possessing a dogDog-collars. to place, or cause to be placed and kept, around the neck of such dog, a collar, on which shall be marked and engraved, in legible and durable characters, the name of the owner or possessor, and the letters “D. 0.”, and to which collar must be attached the insignia or tax-tag furnished by Omission of.the District tax-collector, in accordance with the first and second sections of this law, under the penalty of not less Unlawful use of.than five nor more than ten dollars; and if any person shall put, or cause to be put, a collar, with the insignia or tax-tag, around the neck of any dog owned or possessed by any person or persons residing in the District, without having obtained a license for keeping such animal, he, she, or they shall forfeit and pay the sum of not less than five nor more than ten dollars for each and every offense.
Sec. 7. Whenever it shall be made to appear to the CommissionersMuzzles. that there are good reasons for believing that any dog or dogs within the District are mad, it shall be the duty of the Commissioners to issue a proclamation requiring that all dogs shall, for a period to be defined in the proclamation, wear good, substantial muzzles securely put on, so as to prevent them from biting or snapping; and any dog going at large during the period defined by the Commissioners without such muzzle shall be taken by the poundmaster and impounded, subject to the provisions of section three.
Sec. 8. Any person who shall remove, or cause to be removed, theRemoving collar, etc. collar and insignia or tax-tag from the neck of any dog, or entice any properly licensed dog into any inclosure for the purpose of taking off its collar or insignia, or shall for such purpose decoy or entice any animal out of the inclosure or house of its owner or possessor, or shall Molesting led dog.seize or molest any dog while held or led by any person, or shall bring any dog into the District for the purpose of taking up and killing the same, shall forfeit and pay a sum of not more than twenty dollars.
Sec. 9. If any owner or possessor of a fierce or dangerous dog permitDangerous dogs. the same to go at large-in the District of Columbia, to the danger or annoyance of the inhabitants, he shall forfeit and pay, for the first offense, ten dollars; for the second, a sum not exceeding twenty dollars; and upon a third conviction for the same offense, the Commissioners shall immediately cause the dog, upon account of which the conviction takes place, to be slain and buried. Sec. 10.
That all acts or parts of acts now in force in the District ofRepeals. Columbia inconsistent with the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby, repealed. Approved, June 19, 1878.