Gaskill v. Overseer of the Poor of Downe
Gaskill v. Overseer of the Poor of Downe
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Section four of the supplement to the bastardy act {Nix. Dig. 72,) provides that the jury “shall, by their verdict, declare and find whether or not the said person accused bo the father of such bastard child.” The actual finding was “guilty,” but the justices made the record of it in these words: “That the defendant, Sheppard Gaskill, was guilty, and the putative father of the said bastard child.” It is claimed that such a record was not justified by the finding, and that the issue should have been found in the words of the statute. The only issue for the jury to decide was whether he was the father of the bastard child or not. This is the plain limitation of the act. The proceedings are treated by its provisions as an accusation that he is such father, and when the jury is impaneled and sworn, the language of section four is, that “ the said accusation shall thereupon be tried, as in eases in courts of common law, before such jury.” The legal effect of the whole record in this case is, that Gaskill was so accused. The verdict of guilty could mean nothing else than that he was guilty of the accusation; or, in other words, that he was the father of the child. The justices, therefore, were justified in making the entry in form, according to the necessary meaning of the finding. Middleton v. Quigley, 7 Halst. 352.
The remaining reason urged against the order is, that no testimony was given at the trial that the overseer of the poor, or the inhabitants of the township, had expended, or entered into any contract to expend, anything for or towards the maintenance of the child or its mother, and that no testimony was given that the mother and child, or either of them, had ever been supported by the township as paupers.
This order does not include any lying-in expenses. It only charges the father and mother each with a weekly sum.
The order must be affirmed, with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SHEPPARD GASKILL v. THE OVERSEER OF THE POOR OF THE TOWNSHIP OF DOWNE
- Status
- Published