Richardson v. State

Decision Date08 March 1920
Citation30 Del. 534,109 A. 124
CourtCourt of General Sessions of Delaware
PartiesISAAC RICHARDSON, d. b. a., v. STATE OF DELAWARE

Court of General Sessions for New Castle County, January Term 1920.

APPEAL No. 62, January Term, 1920.

Appeal from Municipal Court of City of Wilmington.

Isaac Richardson was charged on information with willful neglect to provide for the support and maintenance of his illegitimate child. On demurrer to the information. Demurrer overruled.

The case was brought from the Municipal Court for the City of Wilmington on appeal to the Court of General Sessions. The questions raised by the demurrer appear in the opinion of the court.

Demurrer overruled.

Franklin Brockson for Appellant.

P Warren Green, Deputy Atty-Gen., for State.

CONRAD and HEISEL, J. J., sitting.

OPINION

HEISEL, J.

This is a demurrer to an information filed January 12, 1920, wherein it is charged that the defendant on the first day of January, 1918, and on divers other days and times between that day and the day of filing the information, willfully neglected to support his illegitimate child under the age of sixteen years, to wit, nine years of age, being in necessitous circumstances.

The causes of demurrer are:

(1) That the act upon which the information is based is ex post facto as to the offense charged, and, therefore, void as to this offense.

(2) That said information was not filed within two years next after the alleged offense was committed.

(3) That the information was not filed within two years next after the birth of said illegitimate child.

In support of his first grounds of demurrer, counsel contends that the act of February 24, 1913, Rev. Code 1915, § 3034, under which the information is filed, was not passed until after the child was born, and, because it increases the penalty provided in the law covering bastardy proceeding in force at that time, is therefore ex post facto as to this charge.

Section 3034 provides:

"* * * Any parent who shall, without lawful excuse, desert or willfully neglect or refuse to provide for the support and maintenance of his or her legitimate child or children, under the age of sixteen years, in destitute or necessitous circumstances, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. * * * It is made the duty of the parent of any illegitimate child or children, under the age of sixteen years, to provide for the support and maintenance of such illegitimate child or children."

Section 3034 does not make it unlawful for one to be the parent of an illegitimate child, nor does it provide punishment therefor. It does not repeal, nor is it inconsistent with, the bastardy act. What it does is to impose a duty upon the parent of such child to provide support for it until it arrives at the age of 16 years, and if such child during that time becomes in necessitous circumstances and the parent willfully and without lawful excuse neglects or refuses to provide for its support, such parent is then liable.

This liability accrues, not because of the birth of the child that is...

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9 cases
  • Duncan v. State
    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • April 10, 1978
    ...373 (1947), rev'd per curiam on other grounds, 335 U.S. 865, 69 S.Ct. 136, 93 L.Ed. 411 (1948), and nonsupport, Richardson v. State, 30 Del. (7 Boyce) 534, 537, 109 A. 124 (1920); Towns v. State, 24 Ga.App. 265, 100 S.E. 575 When a public officer is the person who fails to perform the duty,......
  • State v. Cahill
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Delaware
    • March 11, 1982
    ...A.2d 504 (1958); State v. Cordrey, Del.Super., 114 A.2d 805 (1955); State v. Wright, Del.Gen.Sess., 3 A.2d 74 (1938); Richardson v. State, Del.Gen.Sess., 109 A. 124 (1920); Bradfield v. State, Del.Gen.Sess., 92 A. 988 (1914); Vail v. State, Del.Gen.Sess., 39 A. 451 (1897), and the putative ......
  • State v. Johnson, 33606.
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • February 11, 1944
    ...the father of an illegitimate child likewise is continuing in nature, People v. Stanley, 33 Cal.App. 624, 166 P. 596;Richardson v. State, 30 Del. 534, 7 Boyce 534, 109 A. 124, the same as in the case of the father of a legitimate child. The statute of limitations does not run against the pr......
  • State v. Johnson, 33606.
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • February 11, 1944
    ...the father of an illegitimate child likewise is continuing in nature, People v. Stanley, 33 Cal.App. 624, 166 P. 596; Richardson v. State, 30 Del. 534, 7 Boyce 534, 109 A. 124, the same as in the case 216 Minn. 431 of the father of a legitimate child. The statute of limitations does not run......
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