Directors of The Poor v. Overseers of Conemaugh Township
Directors of The Poor v. Overseers of Conemaugh Township
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This certiorari brings up only the record of the proceedings in the court below of June Sessions 1858, in which-the court confirmed an order of removal of Thomas Bell, a pauper,
The principal question presented here, which we can consider, relates to the effect of a former order of removal granted by the same justices, also on the complaint of the Overseers of Conemaugh township. It appears, that on the 19th of August 1857, they made, complaint to James R. Dougherty and David Henderson, esquires, two justices of the peace, for the removal of Thomas Bell, the pauper, to the poor-house of Westmoreland county, and on the 24th of August 1857, the order was granted. The pauper was taken to the poor-house, but he was not received. The Overseers of the Poor of Westmoreland county took no appeal from this order of removal to the next Court of Quarter Sessions, as they were authorized by law to do; but delayed attempting an appeal until December 7th 1857, when the “ next term of the sessions had gone by.” Then, they had no right to appeal. The Act of Assembly gave them none: and on the 22d of March 1858, their attempted appeal was dismissed. The Quarter Sessions could have done nothing else. They had no right to entertain an appeal taken after the court next succeeding the order of removal, or to take any action thereon. This untimely appeal having been dismissed, the order of removal remained, of course, in full force, an adjudication between the parties. But instead of sending the pauper again under it to the poor-house of Westmoreland county, which would have been the regular course, the Over.seers of Conemaugh township entered another complaint before the same magistrates, and on the 3d of April 1858, obtained a new order of removal. It is from this last order, that the appeal was taken to the Court of Quarter Sessions, and we are now reviewing the action of that court upon it. The objection urged here is, that, the first order of removal was held to be conclusive, that the last settlement of the pauper was in Westmoreland county. Certainly, it was an adjudication that, on the 24th of August 1857, the last settlement was in that county; and no new .settlement was alleged to have been acquired after that time. It .was essential to it, that the place of last legal settlement should
' This disposes of all the questions which this record presents-, and leads to the conclusion that the action of the Court of Quarter Sessions was right.
The order is afiirmed with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.