909. Examination of the case by the court. The county court must thereupon inquire into the circumstances of each case, and hear any proof that may be offered, and must examine the record of conviction, which is evidence of the facts contained in it, until disapproved. In effect, as amended, Jan. 1, 1896; Laws 1895, chap. 880. § 910. Court may discharge, or authorize the binding out of disorderly person. The court may discharge a person so committed from imprisonment, either absolutely or upon his giving security as provided in section nine hundred and one, or if he be a minor, may authorize the county superintendents of the poor, or the overseers of the poor of the town, or in the city of New York, commissioners of charities and corrections, to bind him out in some lawful calling as a servant, apprentice, mariner or otherwise, until he be of age; or if he be of age, to contract for his service with any person, as a laborer, servant, apprentice, mariner or otherwise, for not exceeding one year. The binding out or contract, pursuant to this section, has the same effect as the indenture of an apprentice, with his own consent and that of his parents, and subjects the person bound out or contracted, to the same control of his master and of the county court of the county, as if he were bound as an apprentice. In effect, as amended, Jan. 1, 1896, Laws 1895, chap. 880. § 911. Court may also commit him to prison; nature and duration of imprisonment. The court may also, in its discretion, order a person convicted as a disorderly person, to be kept in the county jail, or in the city of New York, in the city prison or penitentiary of that city, for a term not exceeding six months at hard labor. § 912. Order to procure materials and implements, and to compel him to work. If there be no means provided in the prison for employing the offender at hard labor, the court may direct the keeper to furnish him such employment as it may specify, and for that purpose to purchase materials and implements, not exceeding a prescribed value, and to compel the offender to perform the work allotted to him. The expenses incurred in carrying the order into effect must be paid to the keeper by the county treasurer, upon the delivery to him of the order of the court, and an account under the oath of the keeper, of the materials and implements furnished. 913. Expense of materials or implements, how paid for, and proceeds of labor, how disposed of. The keeper must sell the produce of the labor of the offender, and must account for the cost of the materials or implements purchased, and for one-half of the surplus, to the board of supervisors, and pay it into the county treasury, and pay the other half of the surplus to the person by whom it was earned, on his discharge from imprisonment. He must also account to the court, when required, for the materials or implements purchased, and for the disposition of the proceeds of the labor of the offender. TITLE VIII. OF PROCEEDINGS RESPECTING THE SUPPORT OF POOR PERSONS. BESTION 914. Who may be compelled to support poor relatives. 915. Order to compel a person to support a poor relative, etc. 919. Costs, by whom to be paid and how enforced. 920. Action on the order, on failure to comply therewith. 921. Parents leaving their children chargeable to the public, how proceeded against. 922. Seizure of their property; transfer thereof, when void. 923. Warrant and seizure, when confirmed or discharged; direction of the court thereon. 924. Warrant, in what cases to be discharged. 925. Sale of the property seized and application of its proceeds. § 914. Who may be compelled to support poor relatives. The father, mother and children, if of sufficient ability, of a poor person who is insane, blind, old, lame, impotent or decrepit, so as to be unable by work to maintain himself, must, at their own charge, relieve and maintain him in a manner to be approved by the overseers of the poor of the town where he is, or in The City of New York, by the commissioners of public charities. If such poor person be insane, he shall be maintained in the manner prescribed by the insanity law. The father, mother, husband, wife or children of a poor insane person legally committed to and confined in an institution supported in whole or in part by the state, shall be liable, if of sufficient ability, for the support and maintenance of such insane person from the time of his reception in such institution. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. See 64 Am. Dec. 279; Schouler's Dom. Rel., § 237; Edwards v. Davis, 16 Johns. 281; Stone v. Burgess, 2 Lans. 439; 47 N. Y. 521; Menden v. Cox, 7 Cow. 235; Matter of Hunt, 5 id. 284; Stevens v. Cheney, 36 Hun, 2; Tillotson v. Smith, 40 id. 322; Herendeen v. De Witt, 49 id. 53. § 915. Order to compel a person to support a poor relative, et cetera. If a relative of a poor person fail to relieve and maintain him, as provided in the last section, the overseers of the poor of the town where he is, or in The City of New York, the commissioners of public charities may apply to any court of record or to a judge thereof where the relative dwells, for an order to compel such relief, upon at least ten days' written notice, served personally, or by leaving it at the last place of residence of the person to whom it is directed, in case of his absence, with a person of suitable age and discretion. If such poor person be insane and legally committed to and confined in an institution supported in whole or in part by the state, and his relatives refuse or neglect to pay for his support and maintenance therein, application may be made by the treasurer of such institution in the manner provided in this section for an order directing the relatives liable therefor to make such payment. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. § 916. Court to hear the case and make order of support.At the time appointed in the notice, the court or a judge thereof must proceed summarily to hear the allegations and proofs of the parties, and must order such of the relatives of the poor person mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen, as were served with the notice and are of sufficient ability, to relieve and maintain him, specifying in the order the sum to be paid weekly for his support, and requiring it to be paid by the father, or if there be none, or if he be not of sufficient ability, then by the children, or if there be none, or if they be not of sufficient ability, then by the mother. If the application be made to secure an order compelling relatives to pay for the maintenance of insane poor persons committed to and confined in an institution supported in whole or in part by the state such order shall specify the sum to be paid for his maintenance by his relatives liable therefor, from the time of his reception in such institution to the time of making such order, and also the sum to be paid weekly for his future maintenance in such institution. The relatives served with such notice shall be deemed to be of sufficient ability, unless the contrary shall affirmatively appear to the satisfaction of the court or a judge thereof. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. § 917. Support; when to be apportioned among different relatives.—If it appear that any such relative is unable to wholly maintain the poor person or to pay for his maintenance if confined in a state institution for the insane, but is able to contribute toward his support, the court or a judge thereof may direct two or more relatives, of different degrees, to maintain him or to pay for his maintenance in such an institution if insane, prescribing the proportion which each must contribute for that purpose; and if it appear that the relatives are not of sufficient ability wholly to maintain him, or to pay for his maintenance in such an institution, if insane, but are able to contribute something, the court or judge thereof must direct the sum, in proportion to their ability, which they shall pay weekly for that purpose. If it appears that the relatives who are liable for the maintenance of an insane poor person confined in a state institution for the insane are not able to pay the whole amount due for such maintenance from the time of such poor person's admission to such institution, the court or a judge thereof must direct the sum to be paid for such maintenance in proportion to the ability of the relatives liable therefor. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. 918. Order to prescribe time during which support is to continue, or may be indefinite; when and how order may be varied. The order may specify the time during which the relatives must maintain the poor person, or during which any of the sums directed by the court or a judge thereof are to be paid, or it may be indefinite or until the further order of the court or a judge thereof. If the order be for payment of a weekly sum for the maintenance of an insane poor person in a state institution, the order shall specify that such sum shall be paid as long as such insane poor person is maintained in such institution. The court or a judge thereof may from time to time vary the order, as circumstances may require, on the application either of any relative affected by it, or of any officer on whose application the order was made, upon ten days' written notice. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. § 919. Costs, by whom to be paid, and how enforced.The costs and expenses of the application must be ascertained by the court, and paid by the relatives against whom the order is made; and the payment thereof, and obedience to the order of maintenance, and to any order for the payment of money, may be enforced by attachment. § 920. Action on the order on failure to comply therewith. If a relative, required by an order of the court or a judge thereof, to relieve or maintain a poor person, neglect to do so in the manner approved by the officers mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen, and neglect to pay to them weekly the sum prescribed by the court or a judge thereof, the officers may maintain an action against the relative, and recover therein the sum prescribed by the court or a judge thereof for every week the order has been disobeyed, to the time of the recovery, with costs, for the use of the poor. If the order directs a relative to pay for the maintenance of an insane poor person in a state institution, and such relative refuses or neglects to pay the amount specified therein, an action may be brought by the treasurer of such institution in its corporate name to recover the amount due to such institution by virtue of such order. As amended by Laws 1898, chap. 399. In effect April 22, 1898. § 921. Parents leaving their children chargeable to the public, how proceeded against.-When the father, or the mother being a widow or living separate from her husband, absconds from the children, or a husband from his wife, leaving any of them chargeable or likely to become chargeable upon the public, the officers mentioned in section nine hundred and fourteen may apply to any two justices of the peace or police justices in the county in which any real or personal property of the father, mother or husband is situated, for a warrant to seize the same. |