Order in which relations are liable.

Contribution, when to be ordered.

Order, what to specify.

Payment of costs and expenses.

proofs and allegations of the parties, and shall order such of the relatives aforesaid of such poor person, as appear to be of sufficient ability, to relieve and maintain such poor person, and shall therein specify the sum which will be sufficient for the support of such poor person, to be paid weekly.

The order which the circuit court makes is not properly a judgment and the method of enforcing it is by attachment.-Smith v. Supt's. of Poor, 34 / 58.

(4) § 4490. SEC. 4. The said court shall also in such orders direct the relative or relatives who shall perform that duty, in the following order: The father shall be first required to maintain such poor person, if of sufficient ability; if there be no father, or he be not of sufficient ability, then the children of such poor person; if there be no such children, or they be not of sufficient ability, then the mother, if she be able to do so. (5) § 4491. SEC. 5. If it shall appear that any such relative is unable wholly to maintain such poor person, but is able to contribute towards his support, the court may, in its discretion, direct two or more relatives of different degrees to maintain such poor person, and shall prescribe the proportion which each shall contribute for that purpose; and if it shall appear that the relatives liable as aforesaid are not of sufficient ability wholly to maintain such poor person, but are liable to contribute something therefor, the court shall direct the sum, in proportion to their ability, which such relations shall severally pay weekly for that purpose.

(6) § 4492. SEC. 6. Such order may specify the time during which the relatives aforesaid shall maintain such poor person, or during which any of the said sums so directed by the court shall be paid, or it may be indefinite, or until the further order of the court; and the said court may from time to time vary such order, whenever circumstances shall require it, on the application either of any relative affected thereby, or of any superintendent of the poor, upon fourteen days' notice being given in the manner aforesaid.

(7) § 4493. SEC. 7. The costs and expenses of any application under the provisions of this chapter, shall be ascertained by the court, and paid by the relatives against whom any order may be made, and the payment thereof, and obedience to the order of maintenance, and to any order of such court for the payment of money as aforesaid, may be enforced by process of attachment from such court. Action may be (8) § 4494. SEC. 8. If any relative who shall have been superintend- required by such order to relieve or maintain any poor perents, in case of son, shall neglect to do so in such manner as shall be approved

brought by

neglect, etc.

by the directors of the poor of the township where such poor person may be, and shall neglect to pay to the superintendents of the poor of the county, weekly, the sum prescribed by the court for the support of such poor person, the said superintendents may maintain an action against such relatives, as for moneys paid, laid out and expended, and shall recover therein the sum so prescribed by the said court for every week the said

order shall have been disobeyed, up to the time of such recovery, with costs of suit, for the use of the poor.

seize and

persons

(9) § 4495. SEC. 9. Whenever the father, or the mother, When superbeing a widow or living separate from her husband, shall aban- intendent to don, neglect or refuse to maintain his or her children, or a hus- take estate of band shall abandon, neglect or refuse to maintain his wife, absconding. leaving any of them chargeable, or likely to become chargeable upon the county for their support, a superintendent of the poor of the county where such wife or children may be, may seize upon and take immediate possession of the goods, chattels, effects, things in action, and the lands and tenements of any such father, mother or husband, wherever the same may be found in the said county; and the said superintendent shall Inventory. make an inventory of the property so seized, a copy of which shall be left with the owner of the same, or at his or her last known place of residence, together with a notice to appear Notice of before a justice of the peace of the said county within one week after such seizure, and show cause why such seizure should not have been made. Said notice shall state the time, place, and officer before whom a hearing may be had.

Where the statute imposes a legal duty upon a parent to support his minor children, a total abandonment of a child raises an implied agency on the child's part to bind the parent for necessaries.-Finn v. Adams, 138 / 258.

hearing.

inventory.

(10) § 4496. SEC. 10. Upon the due proof of the facts Approval of aforesaid, the said justice of the peace shall indorse upon said inventory his approval of the proceedings, and the superintendents of the poor of said county shall then be vested with all the rights and title to the said property, things in action, and effects which the person so abandoning, neglecting or refusing to support as aforesaid, had at the time of seizure.

seizure to be

(11) § 4497. SEC. 11. All sales and transfers of any per- Sales by sonal property of such father, mother, or husband, made by owner after him or her, after such seizure by a superintendent, whether void. in payment of an antecedent debt, or for a new consideration, shall be absolutely void, and the superintendent of the poor having the matter in charge shall return the inventory of the property so seized, with his proceedings thereon, to the next circuit court for the county in which such superintendent resides.

or discharge

(12) § 4498. SEC. 12. The said circuit court, upon in- Circuit court quiry into the facts and circumstances of the case, may con- may confirm firm the said seizure, or may discharge the same; and if the seizure. same be confirmed, such court may from time to time direct what part of the personal property shall be sold, and how much of the proceeds of such sale, and of the rents and profits of the real estate, if any, shall be applied towards the maintenance of the wife and children of the person so abandoning, neglecting, or refusing such support.

(13) § 4499. SEC. 13. The superintendents shall sell at Sale of public vendue the property so ordered to be sold, and recover property and the rents and profits of the real estate of the person so aban- proceeds.

application of

When superintendents may restore property to

owner.

Pauper's personal property sold.

How sold.

Proceeds.

Right to proceeds released.

Proviso.

Incurable insanity.

doning, neglecting, or refusing maintenance as aforesaid, and shall apply the same to the maintenance of the wife and children of the person aforesaid, and for that purpose shall draw on the county treasurer therefor, and they shall account to the said county [circuit] court for all moneys so received by them, and for the application thereof from time to time, and may be compelled by said court to render such account at any time.

(14) § 4500. SEC. 14. Whenever a party whose property has been seized by a superintendent of the poor, shall come forward and give such security as shall be approved by two of the superintendents of the poor of such county, that the wife or children of such party shall not become, or thereafter be chargeable to the county, then the property so seized and remaining unappropriated, or the proceeds thereof, after deducting the expenses of the proceedings aforesaid, shall be restored to such party.

(15) § 4501. SEC. 15. When any personal property, other than personal clothing, shall have been brought to the poorhouse with any pauper, and the same shall come into the hands of the superintendents of the poor, it shall be competent for the superintendents of the poor, on application to any justice of the peace of the county in which said poorhouse is situated, on proof of the facts before said justice, to obtain an order for the sale of any personal property that such pauper may own, at public auction, of all or any of such personal property, for the support of such pauper; whereupon, it shall be competent for such superintendents of the poor to sell the same at public auction, giving the same notice as is required on constable's sales, and the proceeds of said sale shall be placed by said superintendents in the treasury of the county. It shall be lawful for the person to whom said property shall belong at the time of said sale, when he shall cease to be a county charge, to apply for the payment of the proceeds thereof to said superintendents of the poor, who are authorized to draw their order on said treasurer for so much of such amount as shall not have been expended for the maintenance of said owner family, and said treasurer shall pay the same to the person entitled thereto: Provided, That in no case shall the property of any insane pauper be sold, until the disease of such pauper shall be pronounced by the medical superintendent of the state insane asylum to be a case of incurable insanity.

or his

SUPPORT OF POOR BY COUNTIES.

AN ACT to revise and consolidate the several acts relating to the support and maintenance of poor persons.

[Act 148, S. L. 1869.]

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

(16) 4502. § 4502. SECTION 1. That every poor person who is Poor persons, blind, old, lame, sick, or decrepit, or in any other way dis. when to be maintained abled, or enfeebled, so as to be unable to maintain himself, by county. and who shall not be relieved or maintained by his relatives, as provided in chapter thirty-seven, of the revised statutes of eighteen hundred and forty-six, shall be maintained by the county in which he may be, according to the following provisions.

Chapter 37 referred to is sections 1-15 preceding.

Where a family remove from a county in which they have received aid as indigent persons and make their home in another county, the latter county is chargeable with their subsequent support, unless they were removed or enticed from their former home with a view to casting their support on another county.-Supts. of Poor v. Supts. of Poor, 120 / 247. Where a woman with several children was deserted by her husband after moving into a certain county with him, and needed help in supporting herself and children, it was the duty of the poor authorities of such county to furnish her with aid. Livingston County v. Oakland County, 141 / 667. See Jackson County v. Hillsdale Co., 124/17.

(17) § 4503. SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the super- Supervisors to visors of each county at their annual meeting in the year intendents of appoint supereighteen hundred and sixty-nine to appoint three discreet the poor. electors of such county to be superintendents of the poor within the same; one for the term of one year, one for the term of two years, and one for the term of three years, and at their annual session in each year thereafter they shall appoint one superintendent, who shall hold his office for the term of three Term of office. years, and until his successor is appointed and qualified; but the term of office of each and every superintendent, so appointed and qualified after the passage of this act, shall commence on the first day of January next succeeding his appointment, and one at least of the superintendents so appointed shall be a resident of the place where the county seat is located: Provided, That in case of a vacancy caused by the Proviso reladeath or removal of either of said superintendents, or other- tive wise, the said vacancy may be temporarily filled by an appointment made by the judge of probate of such county by an order duly entered upon the record of his court upon petition of the remaining members of said board of superintendents showing such vacancy, and that the board of supervisors is not then in session, and [by an order duly entered upon the record of his court,] which superintendent so appointed shall hold office until the next meeting of the board of supervisors. The supervisors shall, at their first meeting held after such vacancy occurs, appoint a successor for the unexpired term.

vacancies.

Majority may transact business.

Before entering upon the duties of his office each superintendent shall take the oath of office prescribed in the eighteenth article of the constitution and file the same in the office of the county clerk.

Jackson v. James, 74/734.

(18) § 4504. SEC. 3. A majority of the persons so appointed shall be at all times competent to transact business, and to execute any powers vested in the board of superintendents, and they shall be allowed such sum for their actual Compensation. attendance and services as the board of supervisors of the county shall deem reasonable, but not less than one dollar and fifty cents for each day's service, and in addition to their actual and necessary expenses.

To be a corporation.

Powers as such. Meetings, where held.

Powers and duties.

To have charge of

county poorhouses.

To ordain rules.

To employ keepers.

To purchase materials.

Two of the three superintendents of the poor of a county possess the power of the board, whenever they unite in action.-Osborne v. Supts. of Poor, 26/66.

(19) § 4505. SEC. 4. They shall be a corporation, by the name of the superintendents of the poor of the county for which they shall be appointed, and shall possess the usual powers of a corporation for public purposes, and they shall meet as often as the board of supervisors of the county shall direct, at the county poorhouse, if there be one, and if not, then at the place of holding the circuit court in their county, and at such other times and places as they shall deem necessary.

Supts. of Poor v. Nelson, 75 / 160.

(20) § 4506. SEC. 5. They shall have the general superintendence of all the poor who may be in their respective counties, and shall have power, and it shall be their duty:

First, To have charge of the county poorhouse that has been or shall be erected, and to provide suitable places for the keeping of such poor, when so directed by the board of supervisors, when houses for that purpose shall not have been erected by the county; and for that purpose to rent a tenement or tenements, and land not exceeding eighty acres, and to cause the poor of the county to be maintained at such places; Second, To ordain and establish prudential rules, regulations, and by-laws, and for the government and good order of such places so provided, and of the county poorhouses, and for the employment, relief, management, and government of the persons therein placed;

Third, To employ one or more suitable persons to be keepers of such houses or places, and all necessary officers and servants; and to vest in them such powers for the government of such houses as shall be necessary, reserving to the paupers, who may be placed under the care of such keepers, the right to appeal to the superintendents;

Fourth, To purchase the furniture, implements, provisions, and materials, that shall be necessary for the maintenance of the poor and their employment and labor, and to sell and