O'Keefe v. City of Northampton

The plaintiff seeks to recover for the support of a pauper having a settlement in the town of Northampton before its incorporation as a city. The liability of towns for the support of paupers is purely statutory, and a plaintiff, to recover in an action of this kind, must bring his case within the provisions of the statute. Under our legislation there are only two ways in which a debt can be created in favor of an individual against a town for relieving a pauper; one by supplying his wants after “notice and request to the overseers thereof” to provide for him, and their neglect so to do; the…