Overseers of the Poor v. Smith
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Certiorari. ' • CERTIORARI to the Quarter Sessions of Lebanon county. An order was issued by two justices of the peace of Lebanon county, directed to the overseers of the poor of Anville township in that county, to seize the goods and chattels of Peter Smith for the maintenance of his wife; It recited, that it appeared to them as well upon the complaint and application of the overseers of the poor of the township of Anville, as. upon due proof upon oath, that Peter Smith…
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Certiorari. ' • CERTIORARI to the Quarter Sessions of Lebanon county. An order was issued by two justices of the peace of Lebanon county, directed to the overseers of the poor of Anville township in that county, to seize the goods and chattels of Peter Smith for the maintenance of his wife; It recited, that it appeared to them as well upon the complaint and application of the overseers of the poor of the township of Anville, as. upon due proof upon oath, that Peter Smith had, by crul and barbarous treatment, endangered the life of his wife, and had offered such indignities as to render her…
1Opinion of the Court
Tilghman C. J.
There are four exceptions to the pro-, ceedings in this case.
1st. “That the justices had no jurisdiction in case of a “ man’s desertion of a wife who had no children.” There is no ground for this exception. If a husband deserts his wife, and leaves her a charge on the public, she must not starve. So far as her personal support is concerned, it is immaterial whether she has children or not. And so are the expressions of the act of assembly. It speaks of wife or children, throughout.
2d. “ Peter Smith had no notice of the proceedings pre- « vious to the seizing of his property.”…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Beaubien v. BrinckerhoffIllinois Supreme Court · 1840
- Hagerty's CaseSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1835