Commonwealth v. Wibner

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 349
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 18

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Failure to support illegitimate child — Proof of parentage — Act of July 11, 1917, P. L. 778.</p> <p>1. Under the provisions of the Act of July 11, 1917, P. L. 773, a conviction for failure to support an illegitimate child mil be sustained, although' the child was born prior to the passage of the act. The refusal to 'contribute to its support, and not the parenthood of the child, constituted the offense charged in the indictment, and when such refusal took place after the passage of the act the defendant was liable, even though the statute of limitations had become a bar to a prosecution for fornication and bastardy.</p> <p>2. In a prosecution for the failure to contribute to the support and maintenance of a child bom out of wedlock, under the provisions of the Act of 1917, P. L. 773, it is not error for the court to allow the introduction of evidence of the relations between the accused and the mother of the child in order to prove his parenthood.</p> <p>3. The putative and natural father is comprehended in the word “parent.”</p>