Town of Poultney v. Town of Sandgate

35 Vt. 146
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedFebruary 15, 1862
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 35 Vt. 146 (Town of Poultney v. Town of Sandgate) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Poultney v. Town of Sandgate, 35 Vt. 146 (Vt. 1862).

Opinion

Peck, J.

This is an appeal by the town of Sandgate from an order of removal of Rebecca Williams, a pauper,'and her family of five children (named in the order,) from Poultney toSandgate, made December 24th, 1859. Trial in the county court upon an issue of fact whether at the time of the order the last legal settlement of said Rebecca Williams was in Sandgate. The county c(>urt found .the issue in favor of the town of Poultney, and rendered judgment accordingly. The facts are stated in detail, presenting a number of questions for the consideration and decision of this court.

To prove the issue the plaintiff introduced a previous order of removal of the same pauper, Rebecca Williams, from Poultney to Sandgate, dated July 11th, 1854, under which it appears that no actual removal was ever made, the officer not being able to find the pauper within the life of the warrant of removal, and from which order of removal no appeal was taken and also the original complaint and warrant upon which said order was made, and the return of service, the defendant waiving all objection to this complaint, warrant, and return on account of the original instead of a certified copy being introduced, but not waiving any other objection thereto. This copy of the order has annexed to it a warrant or notice for service on the town of Sandgate pursuant to the statute of 1850 (Comp. Stat. p. 132, § 13,) with the return of service thereon, dated. July 19th, 1854, by the constable of Poultney, by which it appears that he served it on Reuben Hurd, overseer of the poor [151]*151of tlio town of Sandgate, on that day, by leaving a copy of the order and warrant, with-his return thereon, at the house of the usual abode of said Hurd, in Sandgate, with Mary Monroe, a person of sufficient discretion, then resident therein. These papers wore also introduced, subject to such objections as might be made to them, except on account of some of them being originals instead of certified copies. It was conceded by the defendant that Reuben Hurd was overseer of the poor of Sand-gate from March, 1853, to March, 1855, and of course he was such at the time of the service of this order. The plaintiff insists that this order, made in 1854, served on Sandgate within thirty days after its date as above stated,.and not appealed from, is conclusive that at the date of the order the pauper’s settlement was in Sandgate, and that it entitles the plaintiff to recover, and so claimed in the county court, and that it precludes the defendant from showing that in fact she had not then and never had any .settlement in Sandgate.

The defendant denies that it lias such effect, and interposes various objections to these proceedings, from which it is claimed they are inoperative to fix the settlement in Sandgate.

1. It is claimed by the defendant’s counsel that by the statute on this subject no order of removal can be made and served that will be binding upon the adverse town, unless an actual removal is made under it, unless it be in certain exceptional cases provided for by statute, as where the pauper is sick and unable to be removed, or is confined in jail, and then it is claimed the pauper must be removed as soon as a recovery from sickness or a release from confinement will permit. The defendant insists that there is no provision in the statute for serving the order or giving notice of it, except when there is an actual removal, unless the case comes under one of the exceptions above stated, and hence'in this case insists that the justices had lib right to issue the notice, and the officer no power to serve it. If this is the correct view of the statute, this objection is fatal. But sue^i is not the construction of the statute.. The act of 1797 was so in effect. That statute provided for an appeal to the next term, and was construed to mean the next term after notice of the order ; but that statute provided for no other notice [152]*152of the 'order of removal than the copy left- at the time of the actual removal; hence no appeal was allowed until the removal was made. But ever since the act of 1817 the law.has been otherwise. That act provided that the town should give notice of the order by a copy of the order left with the town against which the order was made, within thirty days after the making of the order, and allowed an appeal to the term next after notice of thes order. In Strafford v. Hartland, 2 Vt. 565, decided under the act of 1817, a copy of the order of removal was left with Hartland just before the December Term of the court, but the warrant of removal was not executed, or the paupers removed, till after that Term of the court, and not till the 27th of March following. Hartland appealed to the June Term, 1829, the next term after the removal,.but not the next term after notice of the order, and the court decided that the appeal should have been taken to the next term after notice of the order, notwithstanding no removal had then been made, and dismissed the appeal as being taken too late. The statute now in force, and which is the same as the Revised Statutes, as to taking the appeal and delivering a copy of the order certified by the justices within thirty days is substantially like the statute'of 1817, although not quite so explicit as to the time of taking the appeal. Comp.' Stat. p. 132, § 12, provides that a copy of the order certified by the justices shall be left with the overseer of the adverse town within thirty days after the making of such order, unless such pauper shall be removed within that time. In Braintree v. Westford, 17 Vt. 141, the court put the same construction on the Revised Statutes as was put upon the act of 1817 in Strafford v. Hartland, above referred to, and dismissed the appeal because not taken to the next term after the copy of the order was served. In Stowe v. Brookfield, 26 Vt. 524, a copy of the order certified by the justices was delivered by a citizen of Stowe to the overseer of Brookfield, within thirty days after the date of the order, and no removal was ever made or appeal taken, and the court held the order binding on the town of Brookfield. In none of these cases does .it appear that any reason was shown why a removal was not made when the order was served or copy left. This shows that the right and [153]*153requirement to serve the order on the adverse town before making the removal, is not confined to cases where the pauper was sick or imprisoned. The actual removal of 'the pauper, therefore? under the order of 1854, is not necessary to its binding force,

2. The next question is whether the manner in which the service was made in this case is such as the statute requires.

Until the act of 1850 was passed, there was no mode of serving the order by sheriff or constable, by process directed to him to serve, except when actual removal was made, but the copy of the order was delivered by some private individual, and such delivery was proved by parol as any other fact in the case. But the act of 1850, (Comp. Stat. p. 132, §§ 13 and 14,) provides that the justices may certify a copy of the order, and append a notice, the form of which is given, directed to a sheriff or constable, and provides that it may be served by the sheriff of the county in which either town is situated, or a constable of either of said towns, as writs of summons are required to be served. This act only provides an additional mode of service'. This order was served in the manner provided by this act as heretofore stated.

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Bluebook (online)
35 Vt. 146, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-poultney-v-town-of-sandgate-vt-1862.