FERAE NATURAE

Of a wild nature.

This term is used to designate animals which are not usually tamed. Such animals belong to the person who has captured them only while they are in his power for if they regain their liberty his property in them instantly ceases.

Property in animals ferae naturae is not acquired by hunting them and pursuing them; if, therefore, another person kills such animal in the sight of the pursuer, he has a right to appropriate it to his own use. But if the pursuer brings the animal within his own control, as by entrapping it, or wounding it mortally, so as to render escape impossible, it then belongs to him. Though if he abandons it, another person may afterwards acquire property in the animal. The owner of land has a qualified property in animals ferae naturae when, in consequence of their inability and youth, they cannot go away.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.