Town of Ridgefield v. Town of Fairfield

• Decision Date: 22 May 1900
• Citation: 46 A. 245,73 Conn. 47
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: TOWN OF RIDGEFIELD v. TOWN OF FAIRFIELD.

46 A. 245

73 Conn. 47

TOWN OF RIDGEFIELD

v. TOWN OF FAIRFIELD.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut

May 22, 1900.

Appeal from court of common pleas, Fairfield county; Howard J. Curtis, Judge.

Action by the town of Ridgefield against the town of Fairfield to recover for support furnished a pauper. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

The plaintiff's evidence tended to show the following facts: Jane Coe, the pauper, was born in the state of New York about 40 years ago, and lived there with her parents until they died. Her mother died in November, 1889, and her father died prior to that time. In 1889, soon after her mother's death, she, at the request of her brother who lived in Ridgefield, came to that town to live with him, and had her home there with him, and not elsewhere, until the spring of 1891, when she went to live at the home of a sister of hers in Danbury, in this state. She lived with this sister in Danbury until May, 1892, when, at the request of another sister, who lived in Fairfield, she went to that town for the purpose of making her home with said sister. She thence made her home in Fair field continuously until October, 1896, and during all that time received no aid from said town or any other town, nor did she in any way become chargeable to that or any other town. While of inferior intellect, she was neither idiotic nor insane. She had mind enough to be capable of choice and intention as to her place of residence, and could and did, under supervision, perform domestic duties in the households of the persons with whom she lived. The defendant offered no evidence in contradiction of the plaintiff's evidence in support of the above facts, and none that Jane Coe was either idiotic or insane. It offered evidence, however, tending to show that she was of inferior intellect, and incapable of choice or intent as to her place of residence. The defendant, also, on cross-examination of plaintiff's witnesses, elicited evidence tending to show, in substance, that after her mother's death Jane Coe had no property; that she could not wholly support or care for herself, but required the aid and care and supervision of others: that her sister in Danbury was a person of limited means, and could not afford to keep her longer than she did; that when she first went to Fairfield, her brother, in a letter to his sister in Fairfield, suggested "that each of the four brothers and sisters of said Jane Coe should take her at their homes three months at a time, in succession," but that no such arrangement as the one suggested was in fact made. The defendant requested the court to charge the jury as follows: "(a) If the jury shall find from the evidence that the pauper in question in this case, from the date of her birth to the present time, has not possessed sufficient intelligence and will to choose a home for herself; that she was born in New York state forty years ago, and lived there with her mother, her sole surviving parent, until she was thirty years of age, and until her mother's death, in 1889; that she was then, and has since remained, wholly without means of her own for her support; that upon her mother's death she was brought to the town of Ridgefield by her brother, and kept there for about a year and a half; that she was then taken by him to her sister's house in the town of Danbury, and kept there by her for about a year; that she was then taken by her to the house of another sister in the town of Fairfield, and kept there for about four years and a half, except for the period of about a year, when she was taken by a neighbor, and kept at her house, in the town of Fairfield, and also excepting a period of about a week when she was brought to and kept at her brother's house in the town of Ridgefield; that this placing her with these several persons was for their own convenience in distributing among themselves the care and expense to them of her existence, and was intended to be only temporary, and not with a view to a permanent abode with either one of them,—the pauper in question did not acquire a settlement in the town of Fairfield by remaining in said town more than four years without becoming chargeable to a town during said period, (b) If the jury shall find from the evidence that the pauper in question in this case did not possess sufficient intelligence and will to choose a home for herself, she was legally incapable of acquiring a settlement in the towu of Fairfield by living in said town four years consecutively without becoming chargeable to the town during said period." The court did not charge the jury in the words of request "a," and did not charge request "b." Among other things, the court charged the jury, in substance, as follows: "(1) If, during the entire period of her four-years residence in Fairfield, Jane Coe was supported by herself or by other persons without aid or assistance from Failfield, then she had, within the meaning of the law, maintained herself there without becoming chargeable to the town. (2) It is claimed in argument that at the time she went to Fairfield her home was in Ridgefield, and that her stay in Fairfield was only a temporary one. That is a question for the jury to decide from the evidence in the case. If the jury find that she was an inhabitant...