8 Wend. 520 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1832
The provisions of the 25th section of the act for the relief and settlement of the poor, are not applicable to a case like this. It provides for the case of a poor person applying to the overseer of the poor for relief, and directs the overseer in such case to apply to a justice of the' peace, who, together with such overseer, shall inquire into the circumstances of the person so applying, and if they shall find that he requires relief, the justice is to give an order in writing to the overseer, to make such allowance weekly or otherwise to such pauper as he shall think his necessities may require, and the overseers are prohibited from making any other allowance. Now the case at bar is not the case of a pauper applying for relief, but the case of a bastard child, chargeable upon the town ; and, for the purpose of relieving the town, any town justices of the peace are authorized to make an order, charging the mother or reputed father with the payment of a weekly sum for the support of such child. 1 R. L. 306. Such order was made in this case, and the defendants entered into a bond or recognizance, the condition and legal
The evidence offered by the defendant that the mother of the child had been, and was amply able to support it, was properly rejected. The child did not cease to be chargeable to the town in consequence of the ability of the father or the mother to maintain it. The offer was not to shew that the mother had in fact maintained the child. The mother is under no higher or stronger obligation to support her illegitimate child than the father is, and the father cannot escape the responsibility which has been fixed upon him by an order and recognizance, such as these, by proving the ability of the mother to provide for the sustenance of the child. If either father or mother, though able, do not support the child, it is a town charge, and the town must provide for it.
As to the motion in arrest of judgment. The principal ground relied upon in support of this motion is, that this court has not jurisdiction of the cause; that the suit should have been prosecuted in the court of common pleas of the county where the recognizance was taken, by the clerk of the county, according to the provisions of the 5th section of the act for the relief of cities and towns from the maintenance of bastard children. 1 R. L. 208. That section enacts, that if any reconizance in any case concerning bastardy shall become forfeited, such recognizance shall not be estreated and sent into the court of
There is force also in the suggestion, that if that section did apply, non constat but that the suit may have been originally commenced in the court of common pleas, and removed into this court by the defendants by habeas corpus; the fact of such removal, if it existed, would not appear upon the '•ecord, and every presumption may be indulged which is consistent with the record, in the case of a court of -general jurisdiction, in order to support its proceedings, when they are attacked on the ground of a want of jurisdiction.
It is said the declaration is bad because the recognizance is several and not joint,- and the defendants are jointly sued. This objection is answered by a reference to the 14th section of the act for the amendment of the law, &c. 1 R, L. 521, which expressly provides that when two or more persons are bound in one bond or recognizance, jointly and severally, or severally only, it shall be lawful in every such case to join all the obligors in such bond or recognizance, or any part of them, in one action.
The objection, that the declaration should have averred that the recognizance was filed or made a matter of record, is disposed of by what has already been said in answer to the objection to the jurisdiction of the court. It was not necessary that it should be filed or made a matter of record.
The case of The People v. Relyea, 16 Johns. R. 155, decides expressly that this is not a case for the assignment of breaches and the assessment of damages, under the 7th section of the act for the amendment of the law, 1 R. L. 518.
Motion for new trial, and motion in arrest denied.