Arkansas § 14-387-501 - Authority and procedure generally.

§ 14-387-501. Authority and procedure generally.

In any county in this state where any law has been enacted to restrain the running at large of horses, mules, asses, cattle, hogs, sheep, and goats, or any three (3) of these animals, by initiated local act, or otherwise, which includes the entire county, any political township in which no national or state highway or railroad traverses, and in which not more than fifteen percent (15%) of the lands within the township are improved or enclosed, a majority of the qualified electors of the political township may file, with the county court of the county, a petition showing good cause why the provisions of the local act should not be enforced, and that it would cause the inhabitants of the township great loss on account of being deprived of their ability to raise such livestock on unenclosed lands and the public range. The electors shall, before presenting the petition to the court, give fifteen (15) days' notice, by publication in some newspaper published in the county, where the act has been adopted, of the date on which the petition will be filed and presented to the court, setting forth in the notice the reasons why the township and petitioners should be exempted from the act, then the court shall hear the petition and any remonstrance that may be filed against it. If the court shall find, upon the hearing, that the requests of the petitioners to be exempt is reasonable, that not more than fifteen percent (15%) of the lands in the township are improved or enclosed, that the political township is not traversed by any national or state highway or railroads, and that the enforcement of any such local act would cause hardship and loss to the inhabitants of the township, and that it would cause no injury or injustice to the citizens of adjoining townships, then the court is empowered to enter an order exempting the residents of the township from the requirements, provisions, and penalties of such local act.