What is the liability of a farmer to prevent his cattle from straying to adjoining land?

The liability of cattle on a highway to stray to adjoining land is commented on in Goodwyn v. Ckeveley, 4 H. & N. 631, 28 L.J. Ex. 298. The facts contained in the headnote (28 L.J. Ex.) are as follows: Cattle of the plaintiff were being driven along a road in the dark; some of them strayed into a field of the defendant’s, through a gap in the fence; the driver went on with the rest and put them in a place of safety, and then returned to take those which had strayed, but which the defendant by that time had distrained. The defendant, in an action of trespass for the taking, pleaded that he had distrained the cattle damage feasant, and that he had not distrained until a reasonable time had elapsed to remove them:—Held (dissentiente, Bramwell, B.), that a reasonable time meant not merely a reasonable time for the act of removal, but what was reason able under all the circumstances of the case, and that this was for the jury to determine.