Montour County v. Directors of Poor of Danville & Mahoning Poor District

Citations

• 50 Pa. Super. 267
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 40

Syllabus

<p>Poor law — Criminal lunatics — Maintenance—Liability of poor district — Acts of April 14, 1845, P. L. 440, March 87, 1878, P. L. 54, May 8, 1888, P. L. 81, June 85, 1895, P. L. 870, and June 86, 1895, P. L. 888.</p> <p>1. The Act of June 26,1895, P. L. 388, entitled, “An Act to provide for the more immediate relief, care and support of indigent insane persons committed on criminal charges less than felony,” and providing that the insane person shall be maintained at the expense of the’ county from which he is removed “until the proper legal settlement of such insane person can be ascertained and determined,” is to be read in connection with the Act of June 25, 1895, P. L. 270, and earlier acts on the subject prescribing the mode of ascertaining and determining the legal settlement of the pauper and fixing the ultimate liability for his maintenance.</p> <p>2. Under the act of June 26,1895, the removal of an insane criminal to the state hospital with the approval of the court is a “commitment” within the meaning of the Act of June 25, 1895, P. L. 270, and the earlier laws on the subject.</p> <p>3. An order of the court of quarter sessions under the act of June 26, 1895, placing an indigent insane criminal in a state hospital for the insane is not rendered nugatory by the fact that the court appointed two physicians to make an examination of the prisoner and certify as to his condition, and that the approval of the removal was expressed in the technical form of a commitment, so as to comply with the requirements of sec. 29 of the Act of May 8, 1883, P. L. 21.</p> <p>4. An order under the act of June 26, 1895, removing an indigent insane person prior to his trial, to a state hospital for the insane, is not invalid because the proceeding for his removal was initiated by the petition of the district attorney without the apparent participation in it of the county commissioners. In such a case the acquiescence and ratification of the county commissioners will be presumed