53 Pa. Super. 221 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1913
Opinion by
On this appeal we are called upon to review the order of the court below requiring the defendant to pay the sum of $10.00 per week for the support of his wife, and $4.00 per week for each of his five minor children. The proceeding originated in a complaint made by Emma Friedlander, who seems to have been the wife of defendant although not so designated in the complaint, before a magistrate of the city of Philadelphia, in pursuance of which a warrant was issued, the defendant arrested, and after a hearing held to bail for his appearance at the court of quarter sessions. The transcript of the magistrate was returned to the court of quarter sessions and that court, after a hearing, made the order from which the defendant appeals.
The primary complaint of the appellant is that the court was without jurisdiction to make the order for the reason that he is a citizen and resident of the state of New Jersey and that his family also there reside. This contention raises a question of fact which it is not our province to review. The appeal in this case operates only as a common-law certiorari, and on it we can pass upon nothing but the regularity of the proceedings of the court below as disclosed by the record. Our duty is to ascertain from the record whether the court had jurisdiction and
The second ground upon which the appellant seeks to reverse the order is, that the complaint made before the magistrate was not sufficient to support the order of the court. The statute upon which the jurisdiction of the magistrate and the court below was founded required that the proceeding should be begun by information made before the magistrate under oath. It is not necessary in an information or complaint of this character that the niceties of technical pleading should be required, but facts necessary to sustain the jurisdiction should be stated. The persons who are entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the statute are wives or children. The provisions of the act clearly indicate that it was the intention of the legislature that the failure of a husband to maintain his wife should render him subject to prosecution, although he might be making proper provision for his children, and, also, that a man who properly maintained his wife might be proceeded against for failure to maintain his children. The information or complaint should, for this reason, indicate whether the defendant is charged with failure to maintain his wife or children or both. It may not be required that this should be done in the precise language of the statute, but it should be done in words which have substantially the same meaning. All that is shown, as to the nature of the charge against this- defendant, by the transcript of the magistrate’s record returned to the court below is as follows: “Warrant issued on November 20, 1911, on oath of Emma Eriedlander. Defendant charged with insufficient support.” This was wholly insufficient, it utterly failed to indicate whom or what this defendant had failed to sufficiently support, whether his father, grandfather, or the cause of good government generally. It did not appear in the information or complaint, as disclosed by the transcript
The order of the court below is reversed and the defendant is discharged from his recognizance.
Orlady, J., concurs in the judgment.