Farnham v. Pierce

The father of an infant four years of age, who has been committed to the custody of the overseers of the poor of the city of Taunton by the First District Court of Bristol, on findings that she was, by the neglect of her parent, growing up without education or salutary control, and in circumstances exposing her to lead an idle and dissolute life, and that she had a settlement in Taunton, seeks her discharge from custody, on a writ of habeas corpus, on the ground that the St. of 1882, c. 181, § 3, under which the court acted, is contrary to article 12 of the Declaration of Rights of this State.