State v. Tetreault
| Decision Date | 02 January 1952 |
| Citation | 85 A.2d 386,97 N.H. 260 |
| Parties | STATE v. TETREAULT. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Joseph E. Michael, Jr., Rochester, for the defendant.
The issue to be decided is the following: viz., can a nonresident mother of a bastard child begotten out of our state bring a proceeding under R.L. c. 128 to compel the alleged father, a resident of New Hampshire, to contribute to the support of said child. This question has never been decided in this court. See Ford v. Smith, 62 N.H. 419. Its determination depends on the interpretation of our bastardy act for the common law afforded no remedy in such a situation. Clapp v. Brighi, 93 N.H. 431, 43 A.2d 151. Although bastardy proceedings in this jurisdiction are criminal in form, they are civil in nature. 3 West's N. H. Digest, Bastards, k19, p. 795; Schatkin, Disputed Paternity Proceedings (1944) 25, 26.
Where, as is the case here, the statute does not expressly grant to or withhold from a nonresident mother the right to avail herself of its provisions, the courts are in conflict as to whether she can proceed under it. Roy v. Poulin, 105 Me. 411, 74 A. 923; 50 Col. L. Rev. 707-709. See Annotation 16 A.L.R.2d 1098. One view supported by the earlier cases, is that the purpose of the statute of the forum is to secure the maintenance of illegitimate children liable to become paupers in the state, and hence it has no application to illegitimate children of a nonresident mother. Graham v. Monsergh, 22 Vt. 543; Egleson v. Battles, 26 Vt. 548; Grant v. Barry, 91 Mass. 459. The other and more modern view is that the statute converts an existing moral obligation of the putative father to support his illegitimate offspring into a legal obligation, which attaches to him like any other transitory obligation which is enforceable against him if he may be found within the jurisdiction of the court regardless of his residence or the residence of the mother of the child. Roy v. Poulin, supra; State v. Olson, 198 Wis. 197, 223 N.W. 449; see Commonwealth v. Dornes, 239 Mass. 592, 594, 132 N.E. 363; Beattie v. Traynor, 114 Vt. 238, 240, 42 A.2d 435, 159 A.L.R. 1399; Restatement, Conflicts, § 455. An authority on conflict of laws summarized the matter as follows: 'The prevailing doctrine, while recognizing both the grounds stated as important grounds for maintaining the action, permits suit to be brought against the father at his residence though the child was begotten and born and the mother is resident in another state.' 2 Beale, Conflict of Laws, 1431.
Revised Laws, chapter 128, section 1 gives to 'any woman' the right to make complaint and the warrant of the justice may be returnable in the county 'in which the person so charged may reside.' Section 4 provides: 'If any man is found chargeable the court shall order him to pay such sum as they deem reasonable to the mother of the child or to the selectmen of the town liable by law for the maintenance of the child, to be applied for such maintenance * * *; and the court may order him, or the mother, or both, to give security to save the town harmless from all charge for the...
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Kisner v. State
...mean that the prosecution could be brought in any county of the State. Ex parte Bolman, 131 Kan. 593, 292 P. 790. See also State v. Tetreault, 97 N.H. 260, 85 A.2d 386; Davis v. District of Columbia, D.C.Mun.App., 102 A.2d 842. In State v. Hardesty, 132 Md. 172, 103 A. 461, 462, the Court p......
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State v. Bowles
...language characteristic of criminal statutes. This does not prevent it from being in substance a civil proceeding. State v. Tetreault, 97 N.H. 260, 85 A.2d 386 (1952). The removal of that language in Laws 1972, ch. 584, is some indication of a legislative intent not to enact a criminal stat......
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State v. Deane
...of other matters within the power of the municipal court have been transferred although not strictly of a criminal nature. State v. Tetreault, 97 N.H. 260, 85 A.2d 386 (bastardy) and In re Poulin, 100 N.H. 458, 129 A.2d 672 (juvenile delinquency). These decisions indicate that municipal cou......
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Hardy v. Betz
...that although it has never been determined that the plaintiff herein is the father of the minor child in question (cf. State v. Tetreault, 97 N.H. 260, 85 A.2d 386) the Massachusetts statute provides for such determination upon trial of the indictment. Under the Massachusetts statute the of......