the Time of his coming to such Town, in Case he shall within the Term of three Months, have been warned to depart said Town, shall in like Manner be defrayed out of the public Treasury of this State, and all Expences that may arise in Support of such Person, subsequent to the said Term of three Months, on account of Sickness or Lameness, which shall have commenced within the said Term of three Months, and which shall have continued beyond the said Term, to such a Degree as to render it unsafe to remove such Person, shall during the continuance of such Sickness or Lameness only, be defrayed out of the public Treasury of this State, and all subsequent Expences shall be defrayed by such Town, during his continuance therein.

11. Be it further enacted, That the several Towns in this State, shall be holden to support and maintain their respective Inhabitants, whether living within the Towns to which they belong, or in any other Town in this State, who may need Relief, and any Town which shall have pursuant to the Provisions of this Act, incurred Expence in supporting the Inhabitants of any other Town, shall have Liberty in Addition to the Provision already made, to bring any proper Action at common Law against the said Town for the recovery of such Expence.*

It will be seen that this Act prevented any person not an inhabitant of Connecticut, or of any of the United States (i.e., a foreigner), from becoming a legal inhabitant of a town except by vote of the inhabitants of the town or consent of the civil authority and selectmen without such vote, or by being appointed to and executing some public office. It also prevented any inhabitant of the United States except Connecticut from becoming a legal inhabitant of a town without being admitted in the manner provided for foreigners, or being possessed of real estate in fee to the value of $334.

It also provided that no inhabitant of Connecticut should become a legal inhabitant in any town unless he was admitted by the town or the author

* Acts and Laws of the State of Connecticut, 1796, p. 239.

ities, or appointed to and executed a public office, or possessed of real estate in fee of the value of $100, or should have resided in and supported himself and family in the town for the full term of six years next from and after first coming into the town. This practically repealed the law as to warning persons living in Connecticut to depart from any town into which they might remove.

As to inhabitants of the United States coming into any town in Connecticut, the Act provided that the civil authority of the town, being the justices of the peace, might upon application of the selectmen cause them to be conveyed out of Connecticut to the State from whence they came. The Act also provided that the selectmen might by warrant to a constable of the town "warn any person not an inhabitant of this state to depart such town," and that the "person so warned should forfeit to the Treasurer of the town $1.67 a week for every week he remained in town after the warning." The Act also provided that any person who should be convicted of refusing to depart when warned, who had no estate to satisfy the fine, should be "whipped on the naked body not exceeding ten stripes, unless he or she depart the town within ten days next after sentence, and reside no therein without leave of the selectmen." And the Act further provided that any person warned out, who went away and then returned, should be “whipped on the naked body not exceeding ten stripes and again sent away," and "dealt with as aforesaid as often as there shall be occasion."

This Act further provided that no inhabitant in any town should entertain or hire any person not an inhabitant of Connecticut who should come to reside in such town, or let any house or land to such person

without security first given to the acceptance of the civil authority and selectmen of the town to save the town from all expense that might be occasioned thereby, under a penalty of $1.67 a week for every week that any inhabitant "should harbour, entertain, hire or let estate" to such new-comer, and also provided that whoever should entertain any person not being an inhabitant of any town in the State for fourteen days, should be chargeable with the support of such person unless within the fourteen days he gave notice thereof to the selectmen of the town, and that if within three months of the time of his coming into town such newcomer should be warned to depart the town, then the charges of his support should be paid by the State during said three months, and during such further time as it might be unsafe on account of sickness or lameness of the person to remove him from the town, and that otherwise all subsequent expense beyond said three months from the time of warning should be paid by the town.*

Such were the provisions of the law of a Christian State, and they were substantially re-enacted in 1805.†

The provision as to removal of any inhabitant of any other State than Connecticut from a town in the State, and the provision for warning out any person not an inhabitant of the State, and also the provision against entertaining or hiring or letting any house or land to any person not an inhabitant of the State, were retained in the successive revisions of the statutes in 1821, 1835, 1849, 1854, 1866, 1875, and 1888, except that in 1835 the provision that any person warned out who should refuse to depart and have no estate to satisfy the fine of $1.67 a week, whenever he * Acts and Laws of Connecticut, 1796, p. 239.

† Connecticut Laws, 1805, pp. 239, 294.

or she continued in town after the warning, should be whipped on the naked body, not exceeding ten stripes, etc., was repealed. The repeal was found, however, in an Act to prevent the setting up of schools for the instruction of colored persons from other States, which provided that

WHEREAS, attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in this state for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other states and countries, which would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the state, and thereby to the injury of the people: Therefore,

BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened. SECT. 1. That no person shall set up or establish in this state any school, academy, or literary institution, for the instruction or education of colored persons who are not inhabitants of this state, nor instruct or teach in any school, academy, or other literary institution whatsoever in this state, or harbor or board, for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed in any such school, academy, or literary institution, any colored person who is not an inhabitant of any town in this state without, the consent, in writing, first obtained of a majority of the civil authority, and also of the select-men of the town in which such school, academy, or literary institution is situated; and each and every person who shall knowingly do any act forbidden as aforesaid, or shall be aiding or assisting therein, shall, for the first offence, forfeit and pay to the treasurer of this state, a fine of one hundred dollars, and for the second offence shall forfeit and pay a fine of two hundred dollars, and so double for every offence of which he or she shall be convicted. And all informing officers are required to make due presentment of all breaches of this act.*

And also except that in 1854 the provision that any person not an inhabitant of Connecticut, who should return after having been warned out, should be whipped on the naked body and again sent away, and whipped again so often as he might come back, was omitted from the statute; and that in 1888 the provision that *Public Statute Laws of Connecticut, 1835, Title 53, p. 321.

any inhabitant of any other State than Connecticut might be conveyed out of the State was modified so that such person could be removed only if he became chargeable for support in the town within the first year of his residence therein.*

The Connecticut Settlement Act now in force provides for the admission of inhabitants by vote of the towns or consent of its justices of the peace and selectmen, and prevents any person not an inhabitant of Connecticut or of the United States from obtaining a settlement in any other way.

It also preserves the distinction between the inhabitants of other States and inhabitants of Connecticut by providing a different property qualification and a different term of residence to acquire a settlement. Inhabitants of other States must have resided in the town one year, and have been admitted by vote of the town, or have resided in the town one year and have been possessed in fee of unencumbered real estate in Connecticut to the value of $334. Inhabitants of Connecticut can gain a legal settlement in a town in that State only by being admitted by vote of the inhabitants or by having resided four years continuously in the town without becoming chargeable for support of the town.

In short, inhabitants of other States can obtain settlements either by being admitted by vote of the town or by residing in the town one year and being possessed of unencumbered real estate to the value of $334. Inhabitants of other towns in Connecticut can gain settlement either by being admitted by vote of

* Public Statute Laws of Connecticut, 1821, p. 236 et seq.; Public Statute Laws of Connecticut, 1835, p. 317 et seq.; Revised Statutes of Connecticut, 1849, p. 535; The Statutes of Connecticut, 1854, p. 717; General Statutes of Connecticut, 1866, p. 619; General Statutes of Connecticut, Revision 1875, p. 197; General Statutes of Connecticut, Revision 1887, p. 725.