1905

Richmond v. Caruthers

Supreme Court of Virginia

103 Va. 774, 50 S.E. 265

City had ordinance which authorized Board of Health president to contract for the removal of all dead horses, mules and cows from the City, and provided a fine for any person other than the contractor who removed the deceased animal. Caruthers himself removed his dead horse and was fined in police court. On appeal to the hustings court, the judgment was reversed as the ordinance was in conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Caruthers was deprived of his property without due process of law. Supreme Court affirmed. Dead animals were not per se nuisances. The state could not use its police power, in the absence of a per se nuisance, to deprive an owner of a dead domestic animal without due process of law. Although the deceased animal was likely to become a nuisance, the owner did not lose his property the moment the animal died. The owner must be given an opportunity to dispose of the dead animal. The ordinance was void as unconstitutional.

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