---
title: Gardiner v Miller
description: "Case Report: 1967 SLT 29 **The facts:** This case concerns liability for the escape of animals onto the public highway. The claimant was a motorist who was injured when his car collided with a horse that had escaped from an…"
url: "https://scotways.com/ken/gardiner-v-miller/"
updated: "2025-06-05"
category: Liability / Cases involving animals
tags:
  - Case Law Liability
  - Court Case
  - Liability
  - Liability and Animals
---

# Gardiner v Miller

Case Report: 1967 SLT 29

**The facts:** This case concerns liability for the escape of animals onto the public highway. The claimant was a motorist who was injured when his car collided with a horse that had escaped from an adjoining field. The horse had escaped through a gate that had not been properly secured with a rope.

**Decision:** The court held that although there was no absolute duty on the field occupier to keep the gate shut, the issue to be decided at a full hearing of the evidence was whether reasonable care had been taken in securing the gate so as to prevent animals straying onto the public road, with a foreseeable risk of causing damage to people using the road.

**Comment:** Whether an occupier is liable depends on the particular facts of the case. For example, he might not be liable if a horse escaped because an unauthorised person opened a gate. For a similar case, see [Wormold v H J Walker & Co, a decision in the Outer House dated 30 December 2003](https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/judgment?id=01d186a6-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7)