1. Birth. Children, primd facie, whe ther bastard or legitimate, are settled where born : but with respect to bas tards, if a woman goes collusively to be delivered in another parish, the child gains no settlement there.
Bastards born during an order of re moval, or the suspension of it, belong to the mother's parish. 35 George III.
c. 101, s. 6. And so of bastrads born in vagrancy. 17 George II. c. 5, s. 25. And so if born in houses of industry in incor porated districts. 20 George III. c. 36. Or in friendly societies. 33 George III.
c. 54, s. 25. Or in lying-in hospitals. 13 George III. c. 82.
Legitimate children are settled as their parents, till old enough to gain a settle ment of their own ; the earliest period of which is seven years : at which age, by 5 Elizabeth, c. 5, s. 12, a child may be apprenticed to a person using the seas ; and by 17 George 11. c. 5, justices may bind the child of a vagrant of the same age ; and any apprentice gains a settle ment in a place where he has resided as such for forty days.
2. Apprenticeship. The time required to gain a settlement has just been men tioned. The apprentice must be legally bound, except that the contract not be ing indented, which is fatal to the legali ty in every other case, is not in this. 31 George 11. c. 11.
3. Service. Unmarried person without children, hired and serving for a year, gains a settlement. 3. William, c. 11. But must continue a whole year in such service. 8, 9 William, c. 30. Serving a certificated member of a benefit society, no settlement. 33 George III. c. 54, s. 24. Forty days residence in the place necessary, but they need not be all to gether. Where the last forty days are in different places, settlement where the servant slept the last night. General hiring deemed hiring for a year. Hir ing for a year, with liberty to he absent at harvest, sheep-shearing, &a, gains no settlement ; but to serve a month in the militia does. Hiring for one day short of a year no settlement. Serving for three hundred and sixty-five days, if leap-year, no settlement. Hiring at so much per week, conditionally to part at a month's warning, deemed a general hiring ; and, as such, a hiring for a year.
4. Serving Offices. Persons coming to inhabit a place, and executing any annual and public office for a year, settlement. 3 William, c. 11. s. 6.
5. Renting 101. per Annum. This gains a settlement, if resided on forty days. 13, 14 Charles II.
6. Marriage. As a general rule, the wife follows the husband's settlement ; but if the husband has no settlement, or it is not known at his death, her own settlement is restored, and if the husband deserts his wife, her settlement remains.
7. Estate. No person shall be remov ed from any estate while he remains on it. 9 George I. c. 7. But no per son gains a settlement by any estate whose purchase was less than 30/. Ibid.
Persons who have no settlement, as foreigners, or whose settlement cannot be known, as deserted infants, must be kept by the parish where they happen to be.
Certificates. This head is almost done away by the salutary law which will be noticed under.
Removals. So much of 13, 14 Charles II. c. 12, as enables justices to remove persons likely to become chargeable, is repealed ; and no person can now be re moved till actually chargeable. 35 George HI. c. 101, s. 1.
Justices may suspend removal of per sons ill, either under a vagrant pass, or order of removal; expense attending the suspension to be paid by the parish offi cers of the place to which the pauper is to be removed; on refusal to pay within three days, R. distress and sale, with costs, not exceeding 40s. J. 1. If out of the jurisdiction, warrant of distress to be backed by a justice havingjuriscliction. Ap. to the sessions, if charges and costs exceed 201 Ibid. s. 2.
Every person convicted of larceny or felony, or deemed a rogue and vagabond, or disorderly person, or who shall ap pear to two justices, on oath of one wit ness, to be a person of evil fame or a re puted thief, and shall not give a satisfac tory account of himself and way of living, and every unmarried woman with child, shall be deemed actually chargeable, and be removed as such. Ibid. s. 6.
Person refusing to go with an order of removal, or returning when removed, P. commitment as a vagabond. J. 1. 13, 14 Charles 11. c. 12, s. 3.
Parish officer refusing to receive a per son so sent, P. bound to the assizes or sessions, to answer the contempt. J. 1. Ibid. ,.
If removed into another county or ju risdiction, and the parish officers refuse to receive, P. 51. A. to the poor of the place from which the pauper is removed. lt. distress, and, in default, commitment for forty days. J.1. of the jurisdiction to which removed. W. 2. 3 William, c. 11. s. 10.
Appeal from orders of removal to the sessions of the county from which the pauper was removed. 8, 9 William, c. 30, s. 6. It must be to the sessions of the county, and not of any corporate town.