§ 909. Examination of the case by the court. - The court of sessions must thereupon inquire into the circumstances of each case, and hear any proof that may be offered, and must examine the record of conviction, which is evidence of the facts contained in it, until disproved.

§ 910. Court may discharge, or authorize the binding out of disorderly person. The court may discharge a person so committed from imprisonment, either absolutely or upon his giving security as provided in section nine hundred and one, or if he be a minor, may authorize the county superintendents of the poor, or the overseers of the poor of the town, or in the city of New York, commissioners of charities and corrections, to bind him out in some lawful calling as a servant, apprentice, mariner or otherwise, until he be of age; or if he be of age, to contract for his service with any person, as a laborer, servant, apprentice, mariner or otherwise, for not exceeding one year. The binding out or contract, pursuant to this section, has the same effect as the indenture of an apprentice, with his own consent and that of his parents, and subjects the person bound out or contracted, to the same control of his master and of the court of sessions of the county, as if he were bound as an apprentice.

See People, ex rel., v. Sadler, 97 N. Y. 147; 3 N. Y. Cr. Rep. 473.

§ 911. Court may also commit him to prison; nature and duration of imprisonment. The court may also, in it discretion, order a person convicted as a disorderly person, to b kept in the county jail, or in the city of New York, in the cit prison or penitentiary of that city, for a term not exceeding si months at hard labor.

§ 912. Order to procure materials and implements, an to compel him to work. - If there be no means provided the prison for employing the offender at hard labor, the con may direct the keeper to furnish him such employment as it m specify, and for that purpose to purchase materials and imp ments, not exceeding a prescribed value, and to. compel t offender to perform the work allotted to him. The expen incurred in carrying the order into effect must be paid to t keeper by the county treasurer, upon the delivery to him of order of the court, and an account under the oath of the keep of the materials and implements furnished.

§ 913. Expense of materials or implements, how paid for, and proceeds of labor, how disposed of. - The keeper must sell the produce of the labor of the offender, and must account for the cost of the materials or implements purchased, and for one-half of the surplus, to the board of supervisors, and pay it into the county treasury, and pay the other half of the surplus to the person by whom it was earned, on his discharge from imprisonment. He must also account to the court, when required, for the materials or implements purchased, and for the disposition of the proceeds of the labor of the offender.

TITLE VIII.

OF PROCEEDINGS RESPECTING THE SUPPORT OF POOR

PERSONS.

SECTION 914. Who may be compelled to support poor relatives.

915. Order to compel a person to support a poor relative, by whom and how applied for to court of sessions.

916. Court to hear the case and make order of support.

917. Support, when to be apportioned among different relatives.
918. Order, to prescribe time during which support is to continue, or
may be indefinite; when and how order may be varied.

919. Costs, by whom to be paid and how enforced.

920. Action on the order, on failure to comply therewith.

921. Parents leaving their children chargeable to the public, how proceeded against.

922. Seizure of their property; transfer thereof, when void.

923. Warrant and seizure, when confirmed or discharged; direction of the court thereon.

924. Warrant, in what cases to be discharged.

925. Sale of the property seized and application of its proceeds.
926. Powers of superintendents of poor.

914. Who may be compelled to support poor relatives. The father, mother and children, of sufficient ability, of a poor person who is insane, blind, old, lame, impotent or decrepid, so as to be unable by work to maintain himself, must at their own charge, relieve and maintain him in a manner to be approved by the overseers of the town where he is, or in the city of New York, by the commissioners of charities and corrections.

See 64 Am. Dec. 279; Schouler's Dom. Rel., § 237; Edwards v. Davis, 16 Johns. 281; Stone v. Burgess, 2 Lans. 439; 47 N. Y. 521; Menden v. Cox, 7 Cow. 235; Matter of Hunt, 5 id. 284; Stevens v. Cheney, 36 Hun, 2; Tillotson v. Smith, 40 id. 322; Herendeen v. De Witt, 49 id. 53.

915. Order to compel a person to support a poor relative, by whom and how applied for, to court of sessions. If a relative of a poor person fail to relieve and maintain him, as provided in the last section, the overseers of the poor of the town where he is, or in the city of New York, the commissioners of charities and corrections may apply to the court of sessions of the county where the relative dwells, for an order to compel such relief, upon at least ten days' written notice, served personally, or by leaving it at the last place of residence of the person to whom it is directed, in case of his absence, with a person of suitable age and discretion.

See Stevens v. Cheney, 36 Hun, 3; Anon., 3 N. Y. Leg. Obs. 354.

§ 916. Court to hear the case, and make order of support. At the time appointed in the notice, the court must proceed summarily to hear the allegations and proofs of the parties, and must order such of the relatives of the poor person, mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen, as were served with the notice and are of sufficient ability, to relieve and maintain him, specifying in the order the sum to be paid weekly for his support, and requiring it to be paid by the father, or if there be none, or if he be not of sufficient ability, then by the children, or if there be none, or if they be not of sufficient ability, then by the mother.

§ 917. Support, when to be apportioned among different relatives.- If it appear that any such relative is unable wholly to maintain the poor person, but is able to contribute toward his support, the court may direct two or more relatives, of different degrees, to maintain him, prescribing the proportion which each must contribute for that purpose; and if it appea that the relatives are not of sufficient ability wholly to maintain him, but are able to contribute something, the court must direc the sum, in proportion to their ability, which they shall pay weekly for that purpose.

See Stone v. Burgess, 2 Lans. 439; 47 N. Y. 521.`

918. Order to prescribe time during which support is to continue, or may be indefinite; when and how order may be varied. The order may specify the time during which the relatives must maintain the poor person, or during which any of the sums directed by the court are to be paid, or it may be indefinite, or until the further order of the court. The court may from time to time vary the order, as circumstances may require, on the application either of any relative affected by it, or of an officer on whose application the order was made, upon ten days' written notice.

919. Costs, by whom to be paid, and how enforced.The costs and expenses of the application must be ascertained by the court, and paid by the relatives against whom the order is made; and the payment thereof, and obedience to the order of maintenance, and to any order for the payment of money, may be enforced by attachment.

§ 920. Action on the order on failure to comply therewith. If a relative, required by an order of the court, to relieve or maintain a poor person, neglect to do so in the manner approved by the officers mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen, and neglect to pay to them weekly the sum prescribed by the court, the officers may maintain an action against the relative, and recover therein the sum prescribed by the court, for every week the order has been disobeyed, to the time of the recovery, with costs, for the use of the poor. In the city of New York, the action must be in the name of the corporation of

that city.

See Converse v. McArthur, 17 Barb. 410; Duel v. Lamb, 1 Th. & C. 66.

8921. Parents leaving their children chargeable to the public, how proceeded against. When the father, or the mother being a widow or living separate from her husband, absconds from the children, or a husband from his wife, leaving any of them chargeable or likely to become chargeable upon the public, the officers mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen may apply to any two justices of the peace or police justices in county in which any real or personal property of the father, mother or husband is situated, for a warrant to seize the same.

the

Upon due proof of the facts, the magistrate must issue his war rant, authorizing the officers so applying to take and seize the property of the person so absconding. Whenever any child shall be committed to an institution pursuant to any provision of the Penal Code, any magistrate may issue a warrant for the arrest of the father of the child, and examine into his ability to maintain such child in whole or in part; and if satisfied that such father is able to contribute toward the support of the child, then the magistrate shall, by order, require the weekly payment by such father of such sum, and in such manner as such magistrate shall in said order direct, toward the maintenance of such child in such institution, which amount when paid shall be credited by the institution to the city, town, or county against any sums due to it therefrom on account of the maintenance of the child.

See People v. Overseers, 23 Barb. 236; Downing v. Rugar, 21 Wend. 188.

§ 922. Seizure of their property; transfer thereof when void. The officers so applying may seize and take the property, wherever it may be found in the same county; and are vested with all the right and title thereto, which the person absconding then had. The sale or transfer of any personal property, left in the county from which he absconded, made after the issuing of the warrant, whether in payment of an antecedent debt or for a new consideration, is absolutely void The officers must immediately make an inventory of the property seized by them, and return it, together with their proceedings, to the next court of sessions of the county where they reside, ther to be filed.

§ 923. Warrant and seizure, when confirmed or dis charged; direction of the court thereon. The cour upon inquiring into the circumstances of the case, may confirm or discharge the warrant and seizure; and if it be confirmed must, from time to time, direct what part of the personal prop erty must be sold, and how much of the proceeds of the sal and of the rents and profits of the real property, if any, are be applied towards the maintenance of the children or wife the person absconding.

See People v. Overseers, 23 Barb. 236.