Beware of the dog

This article is about the sign. For other uses, see Beware of the Dog (disambiguation).
A mosaic at Pompeii.
A 2nd century Cave canem mosaic at the entrance to the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii.

Beware of the dog (also rendered as Beware of dog) is a warning sign indicating that a dangerous dog is within.

History

Warning signs of this sort have been found in ancient Roman buildings such as the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, which contains a mosaic with the caption cave canem. Some suppose that these warnings may sometimes have been intended to prevent visitors from stepping upon small, delicate dogs of the Italian Greyhound type.[1]

Law

A notice at the Glasgow Necropolis.

Under English law, placing such a sign does not relieve the owner of responsibility for any harm which may come to people attacked by the dog.[2][3]

Such signs may be placed to deter burglary even if there is no dog.[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Cheryl S. Smith (2004), The Rosetta bone, pp. 10–11, ISBN 978-0-7645-4421-7
  2. ↑ James Paterson (1877), Commentaries on the Liberty of the Subject and the Laws of England, p. 271
  3. ↑ Charles G. Addison, Horace Gray Wood (1876), A treatise on the law of torts, p. 285
  4. ↑ R Wright, RH Logie (1988), "How young house burglars choose targets", The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice
  5. ↑ C Wilkinson (1998), "Deconstructing the fort", Journal of Australian Studies

External links

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