to consolidate the existing laws, and render them as intelligible as the nature of the subject admitted, with the following alterations: The existing, perplexed and complicated law of settlement, is proposed to be abrogated, and to substitute for it a plain practical rule derived from the constitutional qualifications of an elector. As paupers can no longer be removed from one county to another, the increase of those chargeable to the county must be very great. As the county has to defray the expense, it ought to direct its application, instead of leaving it to the discretion of the overseers of the town where a county pauper may be. To accomplish this, we propose the institution of a board of county superintendents of the poor, who are to have the exclusive charge of the county paupers. Having such a board, it appeared advisable to give it a general superintendence over the poor, as a means of producing uniformity, increasing vigilance, and saving much expense. Connected with this, and indispensable to it, a provision is inserted for paying all the poor money into the county treasury; the effect of which, it is believed, will be to ensure a more rigid accountability, and a more faithful application of the funds. The vexatious, expensive, and frequently inhuman practice of compulsory removals of a pauper from one town to another, or from a county into which he has been fraudulently brought, which yet prevails, is proposed to be abolished, and a plain, summary, cheap and effectual substitute offered. Other less important alterations will appear, with the reasons for them in notes to the different sections.

"After having done the best we could to improve and simplify the existing laws, we have yet come to a decided conviction in our own minds, that a simple system embracing the county poor-houses and the principle of making all the poor a county charge, is by far the most practicable and economical. Such a system, taken essentially from some special acts in relation to the counties of Genesee and Warren, is herewith presented, that the legislature may have a full view of the whole subject, and decide between the two. We cannot forbear from remarking, that the principle of the English laws is, that each parish shall support its own poor. In adopting their laws, we have extended it to towns, which include many parishes; why it should not be still further extended to counties, we are unable to perceive."

[S 1. Same as enacted, except that the section as reported extended to grand-father, grand-mother, grand-children, and brothers and sisters.] Original note. "Part of 21st section of act for the relief and settlement of the poor, vol. 1, p. 288, and 3d section of act of 1821, p. 114; extended so as as to include brothers and sisters, as being within the equity of the law, and more just than that the burthen should be thrown upon the public."

[S 2. Same as enacted.] Original note. of proceeding prescribed according to the present law."

"Same sections. Mode best practice under the

"Same sections. The

[S 4. Same as enacted.] Original note present act gives no guide as to the order of liability; it would seem just that there should be some, and if any, it ought to be prescribed by law. By the construction given to the act, if relatives are not able wholly to maintain the pauper, they are excused from contributing any part.

It is often used as a mere evasion to avoid liability; and if not so used, it is not perceived why they should not contribute as far as they are able. The original act of 1813, fixed a precise sum as a penalty; but the act of 1821, p. 114, says the penalty shall not be less than $1.25, nor more than $3, and does not prescribe who is to fix it. In the above section, it is proposed to remedy this, by requiring the court in the first instance to ascertain and declare the sum."

[S 5. Same as enacted.] Original note. "New. The necessity of the provision, it is presumed, will be obvious."

[S 6. Same as enacted.] Original note. "There is now no provision for these expenses: it is questionable whether the court can enforce an order by attachment. The remedy by action must be often inadequate.'

[S 7. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Remainder of 21st section. The act of 1821, gives to the relatives actions against each other for the share one may pay over another; but it seems a useless source of litigation, especially when the sum to be paid by each is prescribed by the court. It is therefore omitted."

[S 23. Same as § 29 R. S. except that wherever the words "one year," occur in the statute, the report contained the words "siz months."] Original note. "Entirely new, in prescribing as a plain, practical rule of settlement, the qualifications of a voter. The cases of emancipation are derived from the existing law, as determined by the courts. The two last provisions respecting the birth of the children of paupers, are from the act of 1825, p. 283.”

[S 32, 33. Same as § 38, 39 R. S.] Original note. "The intervention of a justice in this case cannot be necessary, and much expense will be saved by not calling him; nor is the use of a constable, to effect the removal, perceived."

[$ 52. Same as § 58 R. S.] Original note. "Laws of 1817, p. 177; of 1824, § 9, p. 385; of 1825, p. 283; of 1827, p. 255. The phrase 'not having a legal settlement therein,' has been omitted; it throws obscurity on the law, if it does not authorize removals which are intended to be prevented by the laws above quoted."

[$ 53, 54, 55, 56. Same as § 59 to 62 R. S.] Original note to § 56. "These sections are introduced instead of the provision in the laws of 1825, p. 283, § 1; so as to put an end in all cases to the compulsory removal of paupers, and to the orders of settlement, and appeals consequent thereto. The Revisers would have been glad to have avoided any suit; but no tribunal which would be disinterested, and whose decisions would be satisfactory, occurred to them."

"TITLE III.-Of the safe keeping and care of lunatics."

[S 1. Same as enacted, except that instead of the words "be dangerous to be," in the reported §, the legislature have adopted the following: "endanger his own person or the person or property of others, if."] Original note. "Declaratory of duty of committee, and introductory to the subsequent sections."

Original note to Title. "The Revisers have been anxious to find some means by which provision can be made for the safe and humane keeping of lunatics, and for their medical attendance, so as to afford

every opportunity for a recovery, and to dispense entirely with a permanent confinement in the county jail. They have made inquiries, and have reason to believe that the plan here suggested will meet the approbation of the managers of the society for the reformation of juvenile delinquents, and will be accepted by the governors of the hospital."

"TITLE IV. Of the care of habitual drunkards."

[S1. Same as enacted, except the words "and every other person," inserted by the legislature.] Original note. "Second section of act of 1821, p. 99, and act of 1822, p. 131, relative to drunkards. By separating the second section from the first, in the act of 1821, it would seem that the authority of the overseers is confined to those cases where the drunkard does not possess sufficient property for his support. It is supposed this could hardly have been the intention of the legislature. The criterion of sufficient property for his support is, at the best, very vague, and would fluctuate with the habits of the drunkard. The act seems intended to operate as a preventive, and is more applicable to the case of a man of small property, though sufficient for his immediate support, than to that of a man so utterly abandoned and worthless as to have lost all his property."

[S 5. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Part of § 3, act 1821, with additional provisions respecting swearing jury and calling witnesses." [$ 6, 7. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Part of § 3 extended, so as to make the verdict evidence against, as well as for the overseers." [S 8, 9. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Residue of same, 3d section, extended, so as to give costs against the drunkard, and qualified so as not to subject overseers to costs, unless willfully wrong." "TITLE V. Of disorderly persons."

[S 1. Same as enacted, except the words between "feats," and "shall be deemed," which were inserted by the legislature.] Original note. "Part of 1st § of act apprehending, &c., disorderly persons, 1 R. L., 114; 9th of act to prevent gaming, 1 R. L., 154; 1st § of act to suppress common showmen, &c. Laws of 1819, p. 240. Disorderly persons have been distinguished from vagrants as deserving different treatment, and for the purpose of preventing their being sent to the poor house, to mingle with and degrade the merely poor."

§ 2. Same as enacted.] Original note. "The principle of this section is taken from the 9th section of the act to prevent gaming, 1 R. L., 154. It is believed that its application to this class of cases, in authorizing sureties for good behavior to be taken instead of committing the offenders in the first instance, will be salutary."

[S 3. Same as enacted.] Original note. "10th section of gaming act, p. 154; the latter part declaratory."

66

[S 4, 5, 6, 7. Same as enacted. 8. Same as enacted § 8, 9 R. S.] Original note to § 8. "§ 4 of act concerning disorderly persons, amplified, so as to give effect to its principles."

[S 9, 10, 11. Same as § 10, 11, 12 R. S. § 12. Same substantially as 13 R. S.] Original note to § 10, 11, 12. "These provisions are new. By various existing laws, offenders are directed to be confined in the county jail at hard labor. Some provision for their employ

ment seems indispensable; that here suggested is the best that occurred to the Revisers."

"TITLE VI.-Of the support of bastards."

[ S 1. Substantially same as enacted § 1 R. S.] Original note. "Partly taken from the first section of the act concerning bastards, 1 R. L., 306, and from Burn's Justice and Comyn's Digest, title Bastard in each. The above definition, it is believed, comprehends the result of the decisions on this subject, so far as they are applicable to this title." [S 2. Same as enacted.] Original note. "It is intended to prevent all question about the settlement of a bastard or its mother, by making it chargeable to the town or county; and this is in conformity to the spirit of the present poor laws, which seek to prevent litigation on questions of settlement."

[$ 3, 4, 5, 6. Same as enacted.] Original note to § 6. "Part of 2d section of bastardy act, p. 306, which is copied from 6 Geo. II, ch. 31, and was intended to authorize the apprehension, &c., of the putative father, whether he had complied with the order of filiation or not; and thus in fact superseded the first section, which authorized a commitment only in case of default. (1 Burn's Justice, 190.) We have therefore entirely omitted so much of the first section as relates to the father, and made the proceeding single, and we hope simple."

[S 18, 19. Same as enacted.] Original note. "It would seem by the decisions in England (1 Burn's Justice, 185; Comyn's Digest, Bastard, G. 3); that an order would be invalid which was made without notice to the putative father. It has therefore been thought best to require the order to be made at once on the appearance of the putative father; and when his bond is sent, to authorize an ex parte examination, unless he shall present himself. The inconvenience of sending notice to a distant county, would be very great.”

[S 20. Same as enacted.] Original note. “It is presumed that this power is now possessed, but it is deemed useful to declare it. It is limited according to the principle of the 7th section of the act. 1 R. L., 309."

[S 22. Same as enacted.] Original note. "1st section of bastardy act applied to mother only. The utility of making any order against the father, unless he can be apprehended, is not perceived. The retention of the clause leads to great perplexity and embarrassment in the proceedings, and often misleads magistrates into errors which render their proceedings nugatory. The justices now have a discretionary power to charge both father and mother in the first instance; it is here proposed to charge the mother only in the event of the father's failure to provide."

[S 23, 24. Same as enacted.] Original note. "9th and 10th sections of the same act, p. 309, 310. The very object of a recognizance to appear, is to contest the orders made, and it seems useless therefore to require any formal appeal.”

[$ 25, 26, 27. Same as enacted.] Original note to § 27. "There is at present no authority for issuing such subpoenas in vacation."

[$ 28. Same as enacted, except the words "or from sickness or other good cause can not be produced as a witness," after "insane" in the reported §, stricken out by the legislature.] Original note. "Part of

12th same act, p. 310, varied so as to allow the testimony of the mother to be received."

[S 29, 30. Same as enacted, except that in § 30 the words "bond or," were inserted, and the words after "appear," added by the legislature. Original note. "Third section of same act, p. 307, omitting the words 'shall die,' because the child may be a charge although the mother be dead: in 5th D. & E. 373, it was held that the death of the mother did not prevent proceedings to charge the father."

[S 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Some doubt has been entertained whether the existing provisions to compel the mother to support a bastard ought to be retained; but as there may be extreme cases, when the exercise of such a power may be necessary, it has been concluded to retain it, and make it as perfect as possible, providing the means for the supervision of the court of general sessions."

[S 38, 39, 40. Same as enacted.] but deemed useful."

Original note to § 39, 40. "New:

[S 41, 42, 43. Same as enacted.] Original note. "There is now no provision in the statutes for the discharge of a reputed father, or of a mother of a bastard, in any event; but the supreme court have decided in 5th Cowen, 276, that they are included within the insolvent acts. It is not intended to impeach that decision, by the remark that the bastardy act proceeds on the principle of punishment for an offence to the community, or at least for imposing a burthen on the community. The court probably was induced to give a liberal construction to the insolvent acts, so as to include such a case, and thus prevent a perpetual imprisonment. It is believed that the remedy here proposed will be more safe to the public, and equally salutary to the individual."

[S 44 to 49. Same as enacted, except the words "with interest thereon," added by the legislature to § 48.] Original note to § 49. "In a suit upon a recognizance, it has been held by the supreme court, in 16 John. Rep. 155, that the whole penalty was recoverable upon a single breach; and the court go into a course of reasoning which is peculiarly applicable to bonds of indemnity authorized by the 2d section of the bastardy act. And yet the practice universally has been to assign breaches on such bonds, and recover the actual damages. Vide 1st John. Reports, 486; 4th Cowen, 253. There appears no justice in forfeiting the whole penalty, and the legislature seemed to admit it by authorizing the court to compound. This again leads to abuse. Upon the whole, there seemed no way of reconciling the different provisions of the act, of arriving at the intention of the legislature, and of doing justice to all concerned, than to adopt the principle that prevails in every other case, of allowing a recovery for the actual damages, and no more. The proof of damages is here declared in conformity to a decision of errors in 1826, not reported."

[S 50, 51. Same as enacted.] Original note. "Cases may occur where it will be more convenient to sue on the order than on the bond. Our courts have repeatedly decided that an action may be brought on such an order; but it would seem that the executors are not liable. Vide Burn's Justice, title 'Bastard."