Mother of child 1692-3, 18, § 5. 8 Pick. 559. 3 Cush. 537. 10 Cush. 285, 492. 11 Gray, 376. Withdrawal of complaint. 1859, 239, § 5. P. S. 85, § 17. 121 Mass. 533. Liability of father for support. SECTION 16. The mother of the child shall be admitted as a 1 witness in support of the complaint, and may be compelled to tes- 2 tify; but her admissions shall not be used against her in any crimi- 3 nal prosecution, except for perjury committed while so testifying. 4 If, upon examination under the provisions of section one and also 5 in the time of her travail, she accuses the same man of being the 6 father of the child of which she is about to be delivered, and con- 7 tinues constant in such accusation, her accusation in time of travail 8 may be put in evidence upon the trial to corroborate her testimony. 9 2 Allen, 406. 7 Allen, 136. 116 Mass. 198. 143 Mass. 182, 449. 150 Mass. 292. SECTION 17. If any of the persons authorized by the provisions 1 of section two have intervened as therein provided, no complaint 2 instituted by the mother shall be withdrawn, dismissed or settled 3 by agreement between her and the putative father without the con- 4 sent of the person so intervening unless provision is made, to the 5 satisfaction of the court, to relieve and indemnify any parent, 6 guardian, city, town or the commonwealth from all charges which 7 have accrued or may accrue for the maintenance of the child, and 8 for the costs of complaint and prosecution thereof. 9 SECTION 18. No settlement made by the father and mother, 1 before or after the complaint is made, shall relieve the father from 2 G. S. 72, 10. liability to any city or town or the commonwealth for the support 3 of a bastard child. 1859, 239, § 5. § P. S. 85, § 18. 160 Mass. 232. Compromise after com- P. S. 85, § 19. 4 Allen, 59. Defendant may take poor 4 SECTION 19. Officers named in section two may, with the con- 1 sent of the mother or of her parent or guardian, compromise such 2 complaint on receipt of a fixed sum, or of security for the payment 3 thereof, for the benefit of the city, town or commonwealth, as the 4 case may be. SECTION 20. debtor's oath. for a failure to 1825, 173. R. S. 49, § 5. G. S. 72, § 11. P. S. 85, § 20. 3 Allen, 151. 153 5 If the defendant has been imprisoned ninety days 1 comply with an order of the superior court, as 2 provided in this chapter, he shall have the benefit of the laws for 3 the relief of poor debtors committed on execution if he causes the 4 1 Mass. 428. notice required by the provisions of section thirty-three of chapter 5 one hundred and sixty-eight to be served upon the clerk of the city 6 or town in which the child of which he is the reputed father has its 7 legal settlement, if there is such place in the commonwealth, and 8 upon the parties to the record, thirty days at least before the time 9 appointed for taking the oath. Remedy by R. S. 49, § 6. 153 Mass. 428. Prosecutions, civil. 10 SECTION 21. The mother of such child, and said city or town 1 or the commonwealth, respectively, may, at any time after the 2 liberation of the defendant or after taking said oath, recover by 3 action of contract any amount of money for which he is liable to 4 them respectively in pursuance of such order of court. 5 SECTION 22. Prosecutions under the provisions of this chapter, 1 1851, 96, §§ 1, 2. except as herein otherwise expressly provided, shall be according to 2 the course of proceedings in civil cases, and shall not be entertained 3 at a sitting of the superior court held exclusively for the transaction 4 G. S. 72, § 13. 1863, 127, § 5. P. S. 85, § 22. 3 Cush. 537. 6 Cush. 64, 111. 5 of criminal business; but they may be tried before police, district 2 Gray, 253. 6 or municipal courts when sitting for civil or criminal business. 9 4 Allen, 365. 5 Allen, 301. 103 Mass. 50. 1 108 Mass. 233. not to support prison. SECTION 23. The complainant shall not be required to pay or Complainant 2 give security for the support of the defendant if he is committed to defendant in 3 prison by virtue of the provisions of this chapter; nor shall the 182, 187. 4 defendant be discharged from imprisonment although payment is P. S. 85, § 23. 5 not made or security given for his support. 1 66 NOTES. Sect. 2. Inasmuch as St. 1900, c. 129 specifically amended Pub. Sts. c. 85, § 2 by inserting the words dies or" after the word she" in the seventh line, the provision in that act that complaint may be made by the state board of insanity has been treated as an inadvertence, and the state board of charity has been substituted therefor in accordance with Sts. 1886, c. 101, § 4; 1898, c. 433, § 24. Sect. 5. Special justices and trial justices have been added to the officers authorized to approve the bond, in view of St. 1891, c. 367, which authorized justices, special justices, trial justices, etc., to approve the bonds required by Pub. Sts. c. 85, § 6. Sect. 17. This section has been drafted to provide for the consent only of any intervening party in conformity with the decision in Haley v. Whalen, 121 Mass. 533. Sect. 20. The notice was originally required to be served on the complainant, if living in this commonwealth; this was before overseers of the poor and other officers were authorized to intervene. The notice now should be given to all parties having a legal interest in the proceedings. CHAPTER 83. OF THE PROTECTION OF INFANTS AND THE CARE OF PAUPER CHILDREN. SECTIONS 1-19. Protection of Infants. SECTIONS 20-25. – Care of Pauper Children. SECTIONS 26-28.—Care of Children Under Seven Years of Age. PROTECTION OF INFANTS. G. S. 72, § 14. infant board § SECTION 1. Whoever for hire, gain or reward has in his custody Definition of 2 or control at one time two or more infants under the age of two years ing house. 3 unattended by a parent or guardian, except infants related to him 182, 18, 2: 4 by blood or marriage, for the purpose of providing them with care, 5 food and lodging shall be deemed to maintain a boarding house for 6 infants. 162 Mass. 596. ing houses to 1 SECTION 2. The state board of charity may grant licenses to Infant board2 maintain boarding houses for infants. Every application therefor be licensed. 3 shall, except in Boston, first be approved by the board of health of 1892, 318, §§ 3, 4. 4 the city or town in which such boarding house is to be maintained. 162 Mass. 596. 5 Such license shall be granted for a term not exceeding one year, 6 shall state the name of the licensee, the particular premises in which 7 the business may be carried on, the number of infants which may be 8 boarded there at one time, and, if required by said board, it shall be 9 posted in a conspicuous place on the licensed premises. No greater 10 number of infants shall be kept at one time on the premises than is H authorized by the license, and no infant shall be kept in a building 11 19 SECTION 3. The state board of charity may revoke such license 1 in its discretion, and shall note such revocation upon the face of the 2 record thereof. It shall give written notice of such revocation to 3 the licensee by delivering the notice to him in person or by leaving 4 it on the licensed premises. 5 SECTION 4. Every such licensee shall keep a record, in a form 1 to be prescribed by the state board of charity, of every infant 2 received, the date of its reception, the name and address of the 3 person from whom it was received, the date of its discharge and 4 the name and address of the person to whom it was delivered on 5 discharge. 6 SECTION 5. Whoever maintains a boarding house for infants, 1 unless licensed thereto by the state board of charity, shall be 2 punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or by 3 imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both such fine and 4 imprisonment. SECTION 6. 5 Whoever receives under his care or control, and who- 1 ever places under the care or control of another for compensation, 2 an infant under two years of age, which is not related by blood or 3 marriage to the person receiving it, shall, within two days there- 4 after, give notice thereof, and of the terms upon which such 5 infant was received, to the state board of charity, with the name, 6 age and residence of the infant, its parents and the persons from 7 whom or by whom respectively it was received; but if such infant 8 was received from the overseers of the poor of any city or town 9 or from the trustees for children of the city of Boston or from 10 any charitable institution incorporated in this commonwealth, such 11 notice may state only the name and age of such infant and the name 12 and location of the board or institution from which it was received. 13 SECTION 7. The state board of charity, upon receipt of such 1 notice or of any information of such reception, may investigate 2 the case and make such recommendations as it deems expedient. 3 If they are not complied with, it may apply to a justice of the 4 supreme judicial court, superior court, police, district or municipal 5 court, or to a judge of probate, who, after notice to the parents 6 of such infant or to the persons delivering and receiving it, may 7 make and enforce appropriate orders for the care, custody, protec- 8 tion and maintenance of such infant, and on notice may from time 9 to time revise said orders. 10 1892, 318, § 9. 1 SECTION 8. Whoever neglects to give the notice required by Penalties. 2 section six or refuses to give information upon request of said 162 Mass. 596. 3 board or to comply with the orders of a court made in accordance 4 with the provisions of the preceding section shall, upon complaint 5 of an agent of said board thereto authorized, be punished by a fine 6 of not more than one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not 7 more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. of infant. 11, 12. 1 SECTION 9. Whoever gives to any person an infant under two Abandonment 2 years of age for the purpose of placing it for hire, gain or reward 1892, 318, §§ 10, 3 under the permanent control of another person shall be deemed 1897, 395, § 3. 4 guilty of the abandonment of such infant and shall, if a man, be 5 punished by imprisonment in the house of correction, and if a 6 woman, in the reformatory prison for women, for not more than 7 two years. Whoever for hire, gain or reward receives such an 8 infant for the purpose of placing it under the control of any other 9 person shall be deemed guilty of aiding and abetting the abandon10 ment of such infant and shall be punished by a fine of not more than 11 one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two 12 years. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the state 13 board of charity, to the overseers of the poor of any city or town, 14 to the trustees for children of the city of Boston, to any incorpo15 rated charitable institution or to the officers or agents thereof. 1882, 270, §§ 1, 2 1 SECTION 10. Whoever abandons an infant under two years of Same subject. 2 age within or without any building, or, being its parent and having 1889, 309, § 1. 3 made a contract for its board or maintenance, absconds or fails to 4 perform such contract, and who for four weeks after such abscond5 ing or breach of his contract, if of sufficient physical and mental 6 ability, neither visits nor removes such infant nor notifies the over7 seers of the city or town in which he resides of his or her inability 8 to support such infant shall be punished by imprisonment, if a man, 9 in the house of correction, or, if a woman, in the reformatory prison 10 for women, for not more than two years; or, if the infant dies by 11 reason of such abandonment, for not more than five years. Whoever 12 knowingly and with wrongful intent aids or abets in abandoning 13 such infant shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hun14 dred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two years. 1 infants. SECTION 11. Whoever receives an infant under two years of age Adoption of 2 for adoption or for giving it a home or for procuring a home or 1892, 318, § 13. 3 adoption for it shall, before receiving the same, ascertain its name, 4 age and birthplace, and the name and residence of its parent or 5 parents, and shall keep a record of the same, and of the date of 6 such reception. He shall forthwith upon the reception of said infant 7 give notice in writing thereof to the state board of charity, and upon 8 request of said board shall give information and render the reports 9 concerning such infant required by it; and within two days after 10 its discharge shall give notice in writing to said board of the dis11 charge and disposal of such infant. Said state board may investi12 gate the case, and, at any time previous to a decree of adoption, 13 take any such infant into its custody, if in the judgment of said 14 board the public interest and the protection of the infant so re15 quires. Infant may be placed in care of board of charity. SECTION 12. The parents, surviving parent or guardian of an 1 infant under three years of age, if unable to support it, may in 2 1892, 318, § 14. writing, with the consent of the state board of charity, place such 3 infant in its charge if said board considers such action for the public 4 interest; and said board may receive such infant and shall there- 5 upon have its custody in the same manner and to the same extent 6 as if it were committed thereto under the provisions of section 7 thirty-seven. 8 Board may care for certain illegitimate infants. SECTION 13. The mother of an illegitimate infant under two 1 years of age, who is a resident of this commonwealth and who has 2 1892, 318, § 15. previously borne a good character, may, in writing signed by her, 3 and with the consent of said state board of charity, give up such 4 infant to said board for adoption; and said state board, if it deems 5 such action for the public interest, may, in its discretion and on such conditions as it may impose, receive such infant and provide 7 therefor. Such surrender by the mother shall operate as a consent 8 by her to any adoption subsequently approved by said board. Relationship a defence, when. 1892, 318, § 2. Special district police officer authorized. 1885, 158. 1895, 310. 1898, 483. Notice to board of health. 1876, 158. P.S.80, §§ 60, 61. Legitimacy to 9 SECTION 14. In any prosecution under the provisions of the 1 preceding sections of this chapter, except section ten, a defendant 2 who relies in defence upon the relationship of any of said infants to 3 himself shall have the burden of proof thereof. 4 SECTION 15. The governor, upon the written recommendation of 1 the state board of charity, may appoint a special district police officer 2 for a term of three years, who shall be subject to removal at any 3 time by the governor, shall serve without pay, shall have and ex- 4 ercise throughout the commonwealth the powers of a district police 5 officer in all cases arising under the provisions of this chapter, and, 6 under the direction of said board, shall cause the provisions of this 7 chapter to be enforced. 8 SECTION 16. Whoever engages in the business of taking nurs- 1 ing infants or infants under three years of age to board or of enter- 2 taining or boarding more than two such infants in the same house at 3 the same time shall within two days after the reception of every 4 such infant other than the first two give notice thereof in writing 5 to the board of health of the place where such infant is to be so 6 boarded, stating its name and age and the name and residence of 7 the person so taking it to board. The board of health may enter 8 and inspect such house or premises while such business is there 9 carried on, and may direct and enforce the necessary sanitary pre- 10 cautions relative to such children and premises. Whoever violates 11 the provisions of this section or refuses admission to the board 12 of health shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more 13 than five hundred dollars. 14 SECTION 17. Whoever receives an infant under the age of three 1 years for board or for the purpose of procuring adoption shall use 2 due diligence to ascertain whether it is illegitimate, and if he knows 3 or has reason to believe that it is, he shall forthwith notify the state 4 board of charity of such reception. The members, officers or agents 5 of said board may enter and inspect any building where they have 6 |