Gleason v. The Board of Commissioners of McPherson County

• Decision Date: 01 July 1883
• Citation: 30 Kan. 492,2 P. 644
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court
• Parties: WALLACE GLEASON, as Sheriff &c., v. THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF MCPHERSON COUNTY

2 P. 644

30 Kan. 492

WALLACE GLEASON, as Sheriff &c., v. THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF MCPHERSON COUNTY

Supreme Court of Kansas

July 1, 1883

Error from McPherson District Court.

ACTION by Gleason against The Board of Commissioners, to recover certain fees amounting to $ 87.80, in a bastardy case. Judgment for the defendant board, at the April Term, 1883, of the district court. Plaintiff complains of this judgment, and brings it here for review. The opinion states the case.

Judgment affirmed.

D. O Barker, D. P. Lindsay, and Frank G. White, for plaintiff in error.

Lucien Earle, county attorney, for defendant in error.

HORTON C. J. All the Justices concurring.

OPINION

HORTON, C. J.:

In a proceeding in the district court of McPherson county, under ch. 47, Comp. Laws of 1879, "for the maintenance and support of illegitimate children," one Augustus Comer was found to be the father of a bastard child. The plaintiff, who is the sheriff of that county, being unable to collect his costs in the case from any other source, presented his bill therefor, duly verified, to the board of county commissioners for allowance. This was refused. He appealed to the district court. The defendant demurred to the plaintiff's bill setting forth his claim, upon the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The court sustained the demurrer, and rendered judgment for the defendant.

The question presented for our determination is, whether the county of McPherson is liable for the costs of the sheriff. If a proceeding in bastardy is a criminal case, then the county is liable; if it is a civil proceeding, the county is not liable, and the ruling of the trial court must be sustained.

The contention on the part of the plaintiff is, that as a public offense within the meaning of the statute is any act or omission for which the laws of the State prescribe a punishment, and as the laws of the State do prescribe a punishment for a person who is convicted of bastardy, he who is guilty of bastardy is guilty of a crime, and the proceeding to establish his guilt is therefore a criminal proceeding.

The argument is faulty, because the premises upon which it is based do not in fact exist. The laws of the state do not aim to punish one who is guilty of bastardy. It is the duty of every man who becomes the father of a child to contribute to its support, and to save the public from the burden of its maintenance. This duty the statute aims to enforce. There is nothing punitive about it.

"The object of the law is not to punish the defendant for his illicit intercourse with the mother of the bastard child, for such offenses are fully provided for in other statutes; but the object of the law is to enforce, by a stringent remedy, that moral...