superintendent of the poor to expend money for the relief of any person or family, unless the board of supervisors of such county or the town board of such town shall so direct; but this section shall not apply to the counties of New York and Kings. § 14. Penalty for neglect or false report. Any superintendent of the poor or other officer or person having been an officer, who shall neglect or refuse to render any account, statement or report required by this chapter, or shall wilfully make any false report, or shall neglect to pay over any moneys within the time. required by law, shall forfeit two hundred dollars to the town or county of which he is or was an officer, and shall be liable to an action for all moneys which shall be in his hands after the time. the same should have been paid over, with interest thereon at the rate of ten per centum per annum from the time the same should have been paid over. The state board of charities shall give notice to the district attorney of the county of every neglect to make the report required to be made to that board, and every officer or board to whom any such account, statement, report or payment should have been made, shall give notice to such district attorney of every neglect or failure to make the same; and such district attorney shall, on receiving such notice or in any way receiving satisfactory evidence of such default, prosecute for the recovery of such penalties or moneys in the name of the town, or county entitled thereto, and the sum recovered, if for the benefit of the town, shall be paid to the overseer of the poor thereof, and if for the benefit of the county, shall be paid into the county treasury, to be expended by the overseer or superintendent of the poor for the support of the poor of such town or county. ARTICLE 3 Overseers of the Poor Section 20. Relief in counties having alms-house. 23. Temporary relief to persons who can not be removed Section 24. Relief in counties having no alms-house. 25. Overseer to make monthly examinations and audit. accounts. 26. Overseers to keep books of accounts. 27. Annual report of overseers. 28. Accounts of town officers. 29. Overseers of the poor in cities. 30. Hospital accommodations for indigent persons. § 20. Relief in counties having alms-house. When any person shall apply for relief to an overseer of the poor, in a county having an alms-house, such overseer shall inquire into the state and circumstances of the applicant; and if it shall appear that he is a poor person, and requires permanent relief and support, and can be safely removed, the overseer shall, by written order, cause such poor person to be removed to the county alms-house, or to be relieved and provided for, as the necessities of the applicant may require. If the county be one where the respective towns are required to support their own poor, the overseer shall designate in such order of removal, whether such person be chargeable to the county or not; and if no such designation be made, such person shall be deemed to belong to the town whose overseer made such order. A person receiving aid as a poor sick person from the officers of the poor in a city or county, in the absence of any representations on his part as to his responsibility or physical condition, incurs no liability to repay the amount expended on his behalf. It seems the question as to the propriety of granting relief asked is confided to the discretion of said authorities, and if they grant it, the presumption is that they made such investigations as they deemed necessary and determined the question as to the right of the party to relief, their determination cannot be reviewed. Such aid once furnished must thereafter be regarded as a charity extended by the authorities without expectation of reimbursement, and their misjudg ment as to the necessities of the person relieved raises no implied promise on his part to repay moneys expended in his behalf. Money voluntarily paid out by one person for another cannot be recovered back. To maintain an action to recover moneys paid out and expended, it is essential to prove a request to make the payment on the part of the person benefited, either expressed or fairly to be implied from the circumstances. Every person has a natural right to choose the mode and manner of his life, and so long as he does not violate any positive provision of law, to follow it; and money voluntarily furnished by the charitable and credulous, without deception, to aid him cannot be recovered back. The possession of some property by a person does not always and necessarily preclude such person from a just claim for charitable relief. Court of Appeals, November, 1889, City of Albany v. McNamara, 117 N. Y. 168. A poor person has no right to choose the place or manner of his support but must take it in the way the law confers it. There is no implied obligation upon an overseer or superintendent of the poor to compensate a person who has voluntarily relieved a pauper without a request from the overseers of the poor. One B having met with an accident was received by the plaintiff into his house, and there nursed and cared for. Notice was given to the overseer of the poor, who offered to remove B to the poorhouse and there care for him, but B refused to be removed and remained with the plaintiff. Held, that these facts were insufficient to create a liability on the part of the overseer to compensate plaintiff for the care and nursing provided by him for B. Queens County Court, August, 1895, Smith v. Williams, 13 Misc. 761. In counties where the poor are a county and not a town charge, money paid for either the permanent, or temporary, support of a pauper is the money of the county and not of the town. Hence the town can have no color of right to recover it back from a person alleged to have obtained it fraudulently. In counties where there is no county poorhouse, and the towns are severally liable for the support of their own poor, moneys raised for the support of the poor are placed in the hands of the overseers of the poor; and when an overseer pays out money for the support of a pauper or contracts for his support, he is entitled to appropriate the money, in the first case, and retain it in his own hands in the other. He has absolute control of the fund and is liable only for moneys not lawfully appropriated. If an overseer of the poor, having money for the support of the poor, in his hands, makes a contract with another for the support of a pauper, that is within the amount which he has a right to furnish, he may properly charge it in account, and retain it, in his settlement with the board of town auditors. If he becomes personally liable, upon such contract, by reason of his not having obtained an order for the support of the pauper, it is not fraudulent for him to protect himself against such personal liability upon his contract, by retaining the amount thereof out of moneys in his hands. Supreme Court, April, 1867, Robbins v. Woolcott, 66 Barb. 63. Where overseers of the poor relieved and supported paupers belonging to another town, at the request of the overseer of the poor of the town in which the paupers belonged, and the latter overseer, after such support had been furnished, on the presentation of the bill therefor, agreed to pay the same, it was held that he was not personally liable on the contract; it appearing from the facts and circumstances that he was acting in his official character, and did not intend to bind himself personally. Held also, that he was not liable in his official character; the proper remedy for the plaintiffs being that pointed out by statute, viz., to get the claim for the maintenance allowed by the superintendents of the poor, and to lay the same, when thus allowed, before the board of supervisors, in order that they might add the same to the tax list of the town in which the paupers belonged. Supreme Court, July, 1852, Holmes v. Brown, 13 Barb. 599. Where a person has at the request of an overseer, and on his promise to see him paid, boarded a pauper and furnished him with necessaries, he may maintain an action of assumpsit against the overseer, although no order had ever been made for relief of the pauper. Supreme Court, August, 1818, King v. Butler, 15 Johns. 281. They are subject to an action for debts contracted by their predecessors, as overseers. Supreme Court, August, 1823, Todd v. Birdsell, 1 Cow. 260; Supreme Court, February, 1826, Grant v. Fancher, 5 Id. 309. Overseers are not liable, in their individual capacities, for the fraud of their predecessors. Overseers cannot be held individually for the fraudulent acts of their predecessors. In Chancery, 1812, Gregory v. Reeve, 5 Johns. Ch. 232. Overseers may make contracts, within the scope of their authority, which are binding upon them in their official capacity, and upon their successors in office; which successors are liable to be sued for a non-performance of such contracts. Supreme Court, August, 1829, Palmer v. Vandenbergh, 3 Wend. 193; Supreme Court, May, 1851, Paddock v. Symonds, 11 Barb. 117. A contract for the support of a pauper, for an indefinite period, may be rescinded by the overseers. Id. An overseer of the poor cannot contract with the poor officers of another town, for the maintenance of paupers then temporarily residing in the latter. The account must be audited by the superintendents of the poor, and the amount levied by the supervisors against the town responsible for the sup port of the paupers. Court of Appeals, June, 1857, Overseers of Norwich v. Overseers of Pharsalia, 15 N. Y. 341. § 21. Expense of removal, and temporary relief. Unless such poor person is properly chargeable to the town, the overseer, in addition to the expense of such removal, shall be allowed such sum as may have been necessarily paid out, or contracted to be paid, for the relief or support of such poor person, previous to such removal and as the superintendent shall judge was reasonably expended while it was improper or inconvenient to remove such poor person, which sum shall be paid by the county treasurer, on the order of the superintendent. § 22. How supported and when discharged. The person so removed shall be received by the superintendents, or their agents, and be supported and relieved in a county alms-house until it shall appear to them that such person is able to maintain himself, or, if a minor, until he is bound out or otherwise cared for, as hereinafter provided, when they may, in their discretion, discharge him. One who is an inmate of the poorhouse at the expense of the county, although not committed as a pauper, is amenable to the rules and regula tions of the institution so long as he remains. Supreme Court, June, 1883, Spence v. Brown, 17 Weekly Dig. 518. § 23. Temporary relief to persons who can not be removed to alms-house. If it shall appear that the person so applying requires only temporary relief, or is sick, lame or otherwise disabled so that he can not be conveniently removed to the county alms-house, or that he is a person who should be relieved and cared for at his home under article six of this chapter, the overseers shall apply to the supervisor of the town, who shall examine into the facts and circumstances, and shall, in writing, order such sum to be expended for the temporary relief of such poor person, as the circumstances of the case shall require, which order shall entitle the overseer to receive any sum he may have paid out or contracted to pay, within the amount therein specified, from the county treasurer, to be by him charged to the county, if such person be a county charge, if not, to be charged to the town where such relief was afforded; but no greater sum than ten dollars shall be expended or paid for the relief of any one poor person, or one family, without the sanction, in writing, of one of the superintendents of the poor of the county, which shall be presented to the county treasurer, with the order of the supervisor, except when the board. of supervisors or town board has made rules and regulations as prescribed in section thirteen of this chapter. Where no rules or regulations governing the furnishing of temporary or outdoor relief to the poor of a town have been made by the board of supervisors of the county or by the town board as provided by section 13. ante, the overseer of the poor of the town, under this section cannot expend more than ten dollars for the temporary relief of a person who cannot be removed to the almshouse, unless he is authorized to do so by order of the supervisor of the town and the written sanction of one of the superintendents of the poor of the county; the overseer has no power to compel the supervisor to give him such an order or the superintendent to give him such sanction; he performs his entire duties in the premises by applying to the supervisor in behalf of the poor person. Supreme Court, March, 1901, Brazee v. Stewart, 59 App. Div. 476; 69 N. Y. Supp. 231. The overseer of the poor cannot incur for the county liability beyond the sum of ten dollars, for relief in a single case, without the consent of one of the superintendents of the poor. But with this restriction, his power of giving temporary relief is inde pendent of the control of the superintendents of the poor. Cayuga Circuit |