The Town of Freeport v. the Bd. of Supervisors of Stephenson County.
| Decision Date | 30 April 1866 |
| Citation | 41 Ill. 495,1866 WL 4628 |
| Parties | THE TOWN OF FREEPORTv.THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF STEPHENSON COUNTY. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of Stephenson county; the Hon. BENJ. R. SHELDON, Judge, presiding. This was an action of assumpsit brought by the Board of Supervisors of Stephenson county, to the April Term, 1864, of the Circuit Court, against the town of Freeport. The declaration contained a count for goods, wares and merchandise, and a count for the board and lodging of a number of persons who were poor, and a legal charge to defendant as paupers, and the usual money counts. The plea of the general issue was filed. A trial was had at the return term, by the court, by consent the intervention of a jury having been waived, on an agreement of the facts in the case which appears in the opinion of the court.
The issue was found for plaintiffs, and a motion for a new trial was entered, which the court overruled, and rendered judgment for $1,274.05, to reverse which defendants prosecute this writ of error.
Messrs. BAILEY & BRAWLEY, for the plaintiffs in error.
Messrs. BURCHARD, BARTON & BARNUM, for the defendants in error.
This was an action of assumpsit, brought by the Board of Supervisors of Stephenson county against the town of Freeport, to recover for the support of five paupers, with which, it is urged, the town is chargeable. The declaration contained the usual common counts. The general issue was filed, and the cause was submitted to the court for trial, by consent without a jury, on this agreed statement of facts:
“That an act entitled?? An act in relation to the poor of Stephenson county, approved February 18, 1861, was accepted by the electors of said county according to the provisions of the third section of said act, and that the next annual meeting of the board of supervisors of said county of Stephenson thereafter was held on the second Monday of September, A. D. 1861. That Grant Ryan, John Davis, Christian Bergart, Frederick Hetty and Robert Kennedy, and each of them, were paupers in the county poor-house of said county at the time of the passage of said act, and had been at said poor-house, and supported therein by said county, for at least two years preceding the time of the passage of said act, and remained at said poor-house and were supported by said county until the said annual meeting of the board of supervisors of said county.
That, while said paupers were at said poor-house, they were supported exclusively by the county of Stephenson.
That, at the annual meeting of the board of supervisors of said Stephenson county in September, A. D. 1861, said board of supervisors, claiming that the respective towns were liable so to do under said act, passed a resolution requiring the several towns in said county to receive and support the paupers of their respective towns then in the county poor-house.
That, after the passage of said resolution, said board of supervisors caused to be served upon the overseers of the poor of said town of Freeport, and also upon the supervisors of that town, a notice requiring said town to receive and support the above named persons as paupers of the town of Freeport, or pay the expenses of the support of said paupers.
That such notice was served on or about the first day of October, A. D. 1861.
That said town of Freeport then refused to receive said poor, or pay the expenses of the support of said paupers, or either of them, and ever since has refused and still does so refuse, and that said paupers and each of them, since October 1st, 1861, to the time of the commencement of this suit, remained at the poor-house of said county, and were supported by said county of Stephenson.
That the bill for such support, attached to and filed with the declaration in this cause, is reasonable and just, if the said town of Freeport were chargeable with the support of said paupers.
That the poor-house of said county of Stephenson at the time said paupers and each of them were sent thereto, was situate in the township of Silver Creek in said county, and outside of the limits of said town of Freeport, and ever since said paupers were so sent to said poor-house, said poor-house has remained and still is in said township of Silver Creek.
That several years before said paupers or either of them were sent to said poor-house, said Stephenson county adopted township organization, and ever since has acted under such township organization, and that said town of Freeport at the time said paupers and each of them were so sent to the poor-house was an organized town in said county of Stephenson, and ever since has so remained.
That, at the time said persons and each of them became paupers and were sent to said poor-house, they and each of them were legal residents of said town of Freeport, and were sent to said poor-house from and by the proper authority of said town, and when so sent to said poor-house were paupers properly chargeable upon said county of Stephenson.
That, if the foregoing facts establish the liability of said town of Freeport for the support of said paupers under said act, then judgment for the plaintiff is to be entered in the cause for the amount of the bill attached to declaration in this cause, in favor of the plaintiff, saving to each party the right to appeal or writ of error.
The court found the issues for the plaintiff, and assessed the damages at $1,274.05. A motion for a new trial was overruled, and judgment rendered for the amount against defendant. And the cause is brought to this court to reverse the judgment.
This action is based upon an act of the general assembly, approved on the 8th day of February, 1861; and is entitled “An act in relation to the poor of Stephenson county.” It by the first section declares: “That each town in the county of Stephenson, from and after the annual meeting of the board of supervisors of said county, shall respectively pay the expenses of the support of the paupers residing in each town, and out of the treasury thereof, in the same manner and form as other town expenses.” The second section declares, that the county poor farm shall be kept in proper repair, with such improvements as may be required, at the expense of the county, under the supervision of the board of supervisors....
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Phillips' Estate, In re
...also cite early cases dealing with the responsibility of local governments to support paupers. For example, in Town of Freeport v. Board of Supervisors (1866) 41 Ill. 495, the court concluded that paupers placed in the county poorhouse did not by that move lose their residence in the town. ......
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