Duval v. Laclede County
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from Laclede Circuit Court. Duval presented to the county court of Laclede county for allowance a demand against the county for attendance upon Mrs. Basney during her last sickness, and for money paid for her funeral expenses. The county court refused to allow the demand, and he appealed to the Circuit Court.
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Appeal from Laclede Circuit Court. Duval presented to the county court of Laclede county for allowance a demand against the county for attendance upon Mrs. Basney during her last sickness, and for money paid for her funeral expenses. The county court refused to allow the demand, and he appealed to the Circuit Court. At the trial, there was evidence tending to show that Mrs. Basney’s husband was a poor person, and that during her last sickness she was carried to the house of Duval and there taken care of; that the expenses of her burial were paid by him, and that the charges were reasonable.…
1Opinion of the CourtLeonard, Judge
The judgment of the Circuit Court is clearly erroneous. Upon the facts of the case, giving them the most favorable construction for the plaintiff, he has no demand against the county that he can enforce as a matter of right in a court of justice. Assuming that the deceased was a poor person of the county, and that the burial of the county poor, as well as their support during life, is embraced in the general duty to take care of them, (the 6th section of the poor law being merely an authority to the county court to apply the county funds at their discretion to the burial of the casual poor…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Donovan v. Kansas CitySupreme Court of Missouri · 1943
- Handlin v. Morgan CountySupreme Court of Missouri · 1874