Any person taking up estrays may retain possession thereof and use and employ the same in a proper and reasonable manner until claimed or sold according to law, without being liable to the owner thereof, and shall provide such estrays with sufficient wholesome sustenance; and if an animal so taken up die or accidentally get away, the taker up shall not be answerable for the same unless such death or escape be occasioned by ill treatment or neglect. Any person taking up and using an estray under the provisions of this section shall be liable for reasonable hire for the use thereof, to be fixed by the ranger, the same to be set off against the expense of keeping said estray.Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 12, art. 1 (9); 1857, ch. 32, art. 5; 1871, § 291; 1880, § 901; 1892, § 1719; 1906, § 1897; Hemingway's 1917, § 1545; 1930, § 5453; 1942, § 4881.
Mississippi Legal Code