JUDICIARY: Law for the Beaver

Until recent years the beaver was seen only in woodsy ponds, traps, men’s hats, women’s sport coats, alphabet books. Three years ago he appeared in the Government’s Interior Department, which employed him to dam streams, in projects ranging from erosion control to better housing for trout. For this job he received no wage at all; he did it just because he loved the work.

Last week the increasingly social beaver appeared in court, defendant in a complaint brought by Connecticut’s Highway Department that a dam was creating a flood danger. Connecticut’s Attorney General Pallotti ruled that the dam might legally be destroyed, summarily summed up: “In the case of rational animals we know that the individuals’ rights are inferior to those of the State. Following this rule, we must conclude that these animals, being irrational, must also give way to the rights of the State. However, as in the case of human beings, where just compensation is provided for, so in this case these little animals should be compensated.” Mr. Pallotti’s reward for the beavers: they should be removed by the Commission on Forests and Wild Life to other quarters, “where they would be able to perform and exercise their natural skill and ability.”

The beaver, who knows when he is out on a limb, prepared to vacate.