ber, A. D. 1894, William Speyer of Middlebury in the county of Addison aforesaid, unlawfully did neglect and refuse to comply with the requirements of said regulation by then and there maintaining a certain pig pen, the same then and there being within one hundred feet of an inhabited house, and by keeping in said pig pen then and there certain and sundry pigs contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and contrary to the said regulations promulgated by said state board of health, and against the peace and dignity of the state.

And the state's attorney aforesaid, on his oath aforesaid, comes and gives said court further to understand and be informed that the state board of health of the state of Vermont, heretofore and before the transpiring of the facts hereinafter alleged, promulgated a certain regulation and law in the manner and form following, that is to say, that no pig-pen should be built or maintained within one hundred feet of any well or spring of water used for drinking purposes, or within one hundred feet of any street or inhabited house, which said regulation and law was at the time of the commission of the offense hereinafter alleged and still is in force, and of which said regulation and law the said William Speyer was duly notified in writing before the transpiring of the facts hereinafter alleged, and that afterwards, on the said 26th day of October, A. D. 1894, said William Speyer of Middlebury in the county of Addison and state of Vermont, at Middlebury, in the said county of Addison, unlawfully did neglect and refuse to comply with the requirements of the said regulation and law by then and there keeping and maintaining a certain pig pen, the same then and there being within one hundred feet of an inhabited house, and by keeping in said pig pen then and there certain and sundry pigs, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and contrary to said. regulation and law promulgated by the state board of health, and against the peace and dignity of the state.

FRANK L. FISH,

State's Attorney.

DECISION OF THE SUPREME COURT.

The

START, J. The information charges that the respondent kept and maintained a pig pen within one hundred feet of an inhabited dwelling house, in violation of a regulation made by the state board of health. To this information the respondent demurred. demurrer was overruled, information judged sufficient, and the respondent ordered to plead over; to which the respondent excepted.

No. 93, Sec. 6, of the Acts of 1886, as amended by No. 82, Sec. 11 of the Acts of 1892, provides that the state board of health shall have authority to promulgate and enforce such regulations for the better preservation of the public health in contagious and epidemic diseases, and regarding the causes which tend to their development and spread, as they shall judge necessary; and any person or per

sons or corporation neglecting or refusing, after having been duly notified in writing, to comply with the requirements of such regulations shall, upon conviction thereof, pay to the treasurer of the state a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. Acting under the authority conferred by these enactments, the board of health promulgated a regulation that no pig pen should be built or maintained within one hundred feet of any well or spring of water used for drinking purposes, nor within one hundred feet of any street or inhabited house.

The power of the legislature to prevent the introduction and spread of infectious and contagious diseases cannot be questioned. All property in the state is, undoubtedly, held subject to the reasonable supervision of legislative authority, to an extent necessary to the reasonable preservation of the public health. While the necessity and propriety of particular regulations are primarily of legislatíve determination, their character, whether reasonable, impartial and consistent with the state policy, is a question for the court. Tiedman's Lim. of Police Power, 13, 197; Parker & Worthington's Public Health and Safety, 68; Dill. Mun. Corp., Secs. 319, 325, 329; Mugler v. Kanoar, 123 U. S. 623; Minnesota v. Barber, 136 U. S. 313. By the enactment in question, the legislature attempted to confer upon the state board of health power to promulgate and enforce reasonable regulations in respect to contagious and epidemic diseases and causes which tend to their development and spread. If the board of health, in promulgating the regulation in question, were in the reasonable exercise of the power attempted to be conferred upon them, all pig pens built or maintained within one hundred feet of any well or spring of water used for drinking purposes, or within one hundred feet of any street or inhabited house, must be regarded as infected with contagious or epidemic diseases, or causes which tend to their development and spread; or, under such circumstances, it must be inferred that there are reasonable grounds for apprehending that they are thus infected or are such causes.

A regulation so general and far reaching, affecting business and the use of property, cannot be held to be reasonable or justifiable, unless there are reasonable grounds for a belief that the necessary protection of the public health requires it. The regulation in question cannot be held to be reasonable or justifiable, because some few individuals in the state maintain a pig pen in such a manner as to endanger public health. To justify promulgating such a regulation, there must be reasonable grounds for apprehending that all pig pens affected by it are, or may be, a menace to public health. It cannot be said that all pig pens situated within one hundred feet of a well or spring of water used for drinking purposes, or within one hundred feet of a street or inhabited house, endanger public health, or that there are reasonable grounds for apprehending that they do. They may or may not thus endanger the public health. Very much depends upon the manner of construction, the way they are kept and occupied, the means for keeping them clean, the location and surroundings, the character and

slope of the land, their nearness or remoteness from thickly settled communities, and the existence or non-existence of diseases and causes of diseases. A pig pen may be a menace to public health when situated in a city or village, and perfectly harmless when situated upon a farm; and the fact that a pig pen situated in a city or village is a nuisance and endangers public health and ought to be abated, furnishes no reasonable ground for abating a pig pen upon. a farm, which is not a nuisance and in no way affects the public health. The regulation, if valid, had the effect to abate and cause to be removed every pig pen within the prohibited limit. It deprived every owner of land, within the limit, of its use for purposes that, under proper conditions, are harmless and legitimate. By it, the citizen living miles from neighbors and from epidemic diseases and causes which tend to their development and spread, and whose possessions do not extend beyond the prohibited limit, is unreasonably and unjustly deprived of his right to build and maintain a pig pen and engage in a business which has ever been regarded, when conducted under proper conditions, as legitimate.

The regulation is intended to have force and effect throughout the entire state. It affects alike those pig pens which are, as a matter of fact, maintained in such a manner as to be offensive, and those which are maintained with every possible degree of cleanliness; it affects alike those situated upon farms and those situated in thickly settled communities; and it affects all pig pens within the prohibited limit, without reference to the existence or non-existence of epidemic or contagious diseases, and the causes which tend to their development and spread in any particular locality. It is intended to affect alike a business which is so conducted as not to be a nuisance or in any way endangering public health, or furnish reasonable grounds to apprehend that it will do so, and business which is so conducted as to be a nuisance and furnish reasonable grounds for a belief that it will endanger public health, if continued. It reaches beyond the scope of necessary protection and prevention into the domain of restraint of lawful business and use of property. It is founded on fear and apprehension of a remote possible danger to the public health, and not upon its existence, or upon reasonable grounds to apprehend that any considerable portion of the pig pens affected by it endangers or will endanger public health. It is an unreasonable and unjust interference with a legitimate and recognized business pursuit and use of property, without reference to its location or the manner in which it is conducted, or the existence or non-existence of epidemic or contagious diseases or causes which tend to their development and spread in any particular locality. It is too broad and sweeping to be upheld by any necessity of protecting the public health, and we cannot regard it as a reasonable and legitimate exercise of the power attempted to be conferred by the enactments in question. Judgment reversed; demurrer sustained; information adjudged insufficient and quashed; respondent discharged.

Taft, J. concurs in the result. The keeping of pigs, not pig pens, is the evil. The board had no authority to prohibit the building of a pig pen.

The American Public Health Association.

The inaugural meeting of the American Public Health Association, holden in Montreal, Sept. 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1894, was opened in Windsor Hall on the evening of the 24th to hear the address of welcome by the lieutenant-governor of the province, the mayor of Montreal and others. The opening of the proceedings was fixed for half-past eight. Gruenwold's orchestra was on hand and promptly at the appointed time struck up a medley of British, Mexican, United States and Canadian airs. In a few minutes an imposing procession began to file down the hall towards the platform from the eastern entrance. Dr. E. P. Lachapelle, the president of the association, led, and following him were: His Honor Lieutenant-Governor Chapleau, Hon. L. P. Pelletier, provincial secretary; His Worship the mayor, Dr. Anderson, U. S. consulgeneral; Dr. R. Craik, dean of the medical faculty of McGill University; Dr. Durgin, Boston; Dr. Paley, New Westboro; Dr. Formento, New Orleans; Dr. Montizambert of the Dominion quarantine service; Dr. Gihon of the U. S. navy; Dr. McCormack of Kentucky; Dr. O. Watson of New Hampshire; Dr. Hingston; Dr. Holton of Brattleboro, Vt.; Dr. J. Bell and the Mexican delegates.

These gentlemen were loudly cheered as they passed up the hall and ascended the platform. The orchestra having leisurely completed its selection, Dr. Lachapelle rose to introduce Dr. Craik.

The chairman was evidently an admirer of brevity. "Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I have the honor to present to you Dr. Robert Craik, chairman of the local committee."

Dr. Craik proceeded to read a little address of welcome. The association was one whose aims appealed to everybody, no matter what their

AGE, CREED OR NATIONALITY,

and whether he or she might take any interest in it or not. The object of this meeting was to introduce to the people of Montreal a body of eminent men coming from all parts of this continent, from distant Mexico and from every part of the United States and of Canada.

Canada was not slow to recognize the power for good which such an association offered, and had taken a prominent part in its operations. Canadians prominent in health and sanitary matters had from time to time occupied important positions among its officers, and our distinguished sanitarian and fellow townsman, Dr. E. P. Lachapelle, president of our provincial board of health, had this

year been its president; and it is largely to his influence and to the appreciation of his great gifts as a leader in matters connected with public health that Montreal owed the gratification of seeing the association working in its midst to-day.

Dr. Craik proceeded to extend a welcome to all and concluded: "Let us, regardless of all

ARTIFICIAL LINES OF SEPARATION,

join together as one great family, striving earnestly to prevent as far as may be human misery, disease and premature death and to increase by every means in our power the sum of human health, happiness and prosperity.'

The chairman then briefly introduced Lieutenant-Governor Chapleau. His honor was greeted with hearty applause when he rose to speak. He extended first a welcome in French. A governor had no right to speak, only to sign. He would have been proud to have had the privilege of signing the address of welcome to this important association. He would extend a hearty Canadian Bienvenue to the association. Then his honor addressed the meeting in English. Mexico had treated the association hospitably at its last meeting. Montreal was doing the same now and would continue to do so. There was no use for him to say how noble was the object of the association. There might be labor congresses, peace congresses, and congresses for this, that, and the other thing. There could be no greater and more noble object than the health association, the object of conserving the health of this continent and of the world. People said that the length of life is decreasing but that would no longer be a fact when the association had succeeded in its noble aims. One thing they had succeeded in doing. They had stopped the great plagues which were once the dread of humanity. The questions which the association discussed were large and important. Personally he could appreciate medical science. He had been a sick man for fifteen years, and as a good patient he appreciated his doctor. He could consequently appreciate the association, the great doctor of humanity. He hoped that the fruits of its discussions would

BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF

by the national and civic governments of the continent. The association had reason to be proud of what its members had done for Canada. The first board of health in Canada, that of the city of Montreal, was organized when one of the members of the association, Dr. Hingston, was mayor of the city. The president of the association had also done much as chairman of the provincial board of health to perfect the system of provincial sanitation. So long as he was lieutenant-governor he should consider it one of the most important functions of the government to assist in carrying out the work in which the association was concerned. His honor incidentally remarked that the efforts of the association reminded him of the great benefits sanitary science had rendered to humanity in