Commonwealth v. Quigg

Citations

• 46 Pa. Super. 390
• 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 283

Syllabus

<p>Poor laws — Insane poor — Husband and wife — Order for support— Commitment to prison — Acts of April IS, 1867, P. L. 78, and April 6, 1906, P. L. 112.</p> <p>1. Where a wife has been regularly committed to a state insane asylum at the request of her husband who was in poor circumstances, and upon certificates of physicians, the court of quarter sessions cannot thereafter enter an order of support against the husband upon the petition of a representative of the bureau of health, which merely avers that the petitioner has reason to believe that an order should be made upon the husband or other relatives for the support of the lunatic, without any averment of desertion and without any prior proceedings before a justice of the peace, or magistrate as provided by the Act of April 13, 1867, P. L. 78.</p> <p>2. Under the Act of April 6, 1905, P. L. 112, the court of quarter sessions has no power to commit to prison a husband who had failed to obey an order of -support. The liability imposed by the act of 1905, can only be enforced against the property of the husband.</p>