20 Johns. 282 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1822
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The 17th section of the " act for the relief and settlement of the poor,” (1 N. R. L. 279. 285.) gives an appeal to
If I am correct in this point, it is decisive of the case, in favour of the plaintiffs in error. But on the merits, as disclosed in the Sessions, I think the judgment of the Court below was erroneous. The ,proof shows, that the father of the pauper gained a settlement, by paying taxes for two years, in Dickinson, after the division of that town; and, under the circumstances of the case, the pauper had a derivative settlement, identified with that of his father; and the son had acquired no other. The contract, whereby the father attempted to release his infant son from all parental charge and control, was absurd, and can have no effect upon the question before us. The law determines the relation between a father and his infant children, which it is not in their power to change.
The conclusion is, that the judgment of the Court ofGe~neral Sessions ought to be reversed.
Judgment of the Sessions reversed.