63 Ga. 356 | Ga. | 1879
If a man, though having health, will not work for the support of his wife and minor children, a court cannot assume direct control of his will and muscle and compel him to labor. To do this would be to reduce him to a sort of juridical slavery, and would contradict the spirit of our institutions. To be idle (taking the consequences) is one of the privileges of a freeman, unless he is convicted pen-ally of some offense and put to work as a punishment. But while a civil court cannot order an able-bodied man to go to work, it can, in a proper case for. alimony, order him to contribute so much money at such and such times to the maintenance of his dependent family, and leave him to provide the money by the free and voluntary exercise of his faculties, mental and physical, or by any other means at his command. If it is not reasonably and fairly within Ills power to comply with the order, he may disobey it, and the court must and will excuse him. But it is not a sufficient excuse to say, “I cannot raise the money unless I work for it,” nor, “Although I can raise money by my labor, I cannot save that much over and above my expenses, unless I practice a more rigid economy than is agreeable to me.” I do not mean to suggest that the answer in the present case is to this effect, but only that a man under lawful oi'ders of a court in i-espeet to the support of his family, has no moi’e latitude than one who does his duty without any order. It is the common practice of husbands and fathers wherever civilization pi’evails, to supplement or supply deficient pecuniai-y means of support for their families with their personal exertions, and to so curtail their own expenses as to leave something for the wite and minor childx’en. Whatever may be the theoretical difficulties of maintaining a family on the labor of one man, with such casual assistance as his wife and young children can afford, practically all such difficulties are overcome so generally that there is a reasonable presumption of the ability of any
Judgment affirmed.