Aldrich v. Inhabitants of Blackstone

• Decision Date: 24 January 1880
• Citation: 128 Mass. 148
• Parties: Rebecca B. Aldrich, administratrix, v. Inhabitants of Blackstone
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

128 Mass. 148

Rebecca B. Aldrich, administratrix, v. Inhabitants of Blackstone

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

January 24, 1880

Argued October 2, 1879

Worcester. Contract. The declaration alleged that one George Freeman, a poor and indigent person, having a settlement in and being chargeable to the defendant town, fell into distress and was afflicted with a dangerous and loathsome disease, which prevented his removal and required extra care and nursing, at the house of the plaintiff's intestate that the overseers of the poor of the defendant town assumed in its behalf the care, relief and support of Freeman, and in behalf of the defendant contracted with the plaintiff's intestate to take the care of, and to support and nurse the sad Freeman, for such compensation as should be reasonable and such as the services required and the said support should be fairly worth, and for such expense or pecuniary loss as might be incurred in the premises; that the plaintiff's intestate in his lifetime did support and care for Freeman under and by virtue of said contract, during and through said sickness, and did incur expense in such service, support and care, the items of which were set forth in detail, amounting in all to $ 712, from July 23 to August 27, 1877. Trial and verdict for the plaintiff for $ 265 in the Superior Court before Dewey, J., to whose rulings the defendant alleged exceptions, the material parts of which appear in the opinion.

Exceptions overruled.

J. Hopkins, (F. N. Thayer with him,) for the defendant.

W. S. B. Hopkins, for the plaintiff.

Morton, J. Endicott & Lord, JJ., absent.

OPINION

Morton, J.

In this case, the following facts are established by the verdict. On July 23, 1877, one Freeman, who was a pauper having his settlement in the town of Blackstone, and who was then in the employ of Aldrich, the plaintiff's intestate, who lived in Uxbridge, was taken sick with a dangerous disease. Aldrich furnished him the necessary relief, and, in the week following, notified the overseers of the poor of Uxbridge of the condition of Freeman, and that he stood in need of relief. On August 4 following, the overseers of Uxbridge sent a notice in due form to the overseers of the poor of the town of Blackstone, who, on August 5, which was Sunday, went to the house of Aldrich in Uxbridge, examined the condition of the pauper, found that he was so dangerously sick that he could not be removed, and thereupon made the contract for his relief and support upon which this suit is brought. The principal question is, whether the overseers had the power to make this contract so as to bind the town.

The provisions of our laws as to the support of paupers are mainly contained in the Gen. Sts. c. 70. By § 1, it is made the duty of every city and town to "relieve and support all poor and indigent persons lawfully settled therein, whenever they stand in need thereof." By § 2, it is provided that "the overseers of the poor shall have the care and oversight of all such poor and indigent persons so long as they remain at the charge of their respective cities or towns, and shall see that they are suitably relieved, supported and employed either in the workhouse or almshouse, or in such other manner as the city or town directs, or otherwise at the discretion of said overseers." By the subsequent provisions, it is made the duty of the overseers to furnish relief to all persons found in their...