Jones v. Board of Supervisors

Citations

• 60 Miss. 409

Syllabus

<p>1. Paupers. Supervisors to provide relief. Settlement.</p> <p>Under the provisions of chap. 12, of the Code of 1880, “ in relation to the support of the poor,” it is the duty of the Board of Supervisors of any county, when in session, to provide for the relief of paupers in their county, whether the paupers have a settlement therefor not; and during the recesses of the board each member is a commissioner of tl^e poor within his district and may act alone in affording such relief, and report his action to the board at its next meeting.</p> <p>2. Sam®.' Poverty and contagion combined. Compensation for medical attention. Liability of county. Case in ¿judgment.</p> <p>' A family of negroes, in De Soto County, became afflicted with small-pox, and the health officer of the county, by virtue of sect. 797 of the Code of 1880 established a local quarantine of the afflicted and those who had been exposed to the contagion. J., a physician, was charged by the health officer with the execution of the quarantine regulations; and, soon afterwards, he was employed by the State Board of Health, under sect. 801 of the Code, as inspector of the infected locality. For his services as inspector he was paid by the State; hut he attended the sick as physician, which was not a part of his duties as inspector, and for such service he presented to the Board of Supervisors an account against the county. The board refused to allow it, and he appealed to the Circuit Court, where the judgment of the board was affirmed; and then he appealed to this court. J. was not employed by the Board of Supervisors, nor by the member in whose district the patient was located. The adult patients were able-bodied, and capable of supporting themselves and their families, but for their sickness, and one of them was possessed of a small personal property. One had probably not acquired a settlement in the county. Held, that, although none.of the sick attended by J. could have been declared paupers if in health,