39 & 40 Vict. c. 61.

Abolition of derivative settlements.

in each of such years, as would in accordance with the several statutes in that behalf render him irremovable, he shall be deemed to be settled therein until he shall acquire a settlement in some other parish by a like residence or otherwise: provided that an order of removal in respect of a settlement acquired under this section shall not be made upon the evidence of the person to be removed, without such corroboration as the justices or Court think sufficient.

35 No person shall be deemed to have derived a settlement from any other person, whether by parentage, estate, or otherwise, except in the case of a wife from her husband and in the case of a child under the age of sixteen, which child shall take the settlement of its father or of its widowed mother, as the case may be, up to that age, and shall retain the settlement so taken until it shall acquire another.

An illegitimate child shall retain the settlement of its mother until such child acquires another settlement.

If any child in this section mentioned shall not have acquired a settlement for itself, or being a female shall not have derived a settlement from her husband, and it cannot be shown what settlement such child or female derived from the parent without inquiring into the derivative settlement of such parent, such child or female shall be deemed to be settled in the parish in which he or she was born.

POOR LAW ACT, 1889.

52 & 53 VICT. c. 56.

1 (3) (n) For the purposes of this Act a child shall be deemed to be maintained by the guardians if it is wholly or partly maintained by them in a workhouse or in any district school, separate school, separate infirmary, sick asylum, hospital for infectious diseases, institution for the deaf, dumb, blind, or idiots, or any certified school under the Act of the Session of the twenty-fifth and twentysixth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, chapter forty-three, or is boarded out by the guardians, whether within or without the limits of the union.

(5) Nothing in this section shall relieve any person from any liability to contribute to the maintenance of a child, but the fact of such contribution being made shall not deprive the guardians of any of the powers and rights conferred on them by this section.

(6) Nothing in this section shall authorise the guardians to cause a child to be educated in any religious creed other than that in

(n) Sub-secs. (1), (2), and (4) of this section are repealed, and other

sub-sections substituted, by 62 & 63 Vict. c. 37, post, p. 202.

which the child would have been educated but for any resolution 52 & 53 Vict. of the guardians under this section, nor affect the enactments c. 56. respecting the religious education of a child maintained by the guardians, or respecting the right of any minister of the same religious persuasion as the child to visit and instruct the child, nor affect any of the enactments specified in the schedule to this Act, which enactments relate to the religious education of children maintained by guardians.

CLEANSING OF PERSONS ACT, 1897.

60 & 61 VICT. c. 31.

1 On and after the passing of this Act any local authority shall have the power, when in their discretion they shall see fit, to permit any person who shall apply to the said authority, on the ground that he is infested with vermin, to have the use, free of charge, of the apparatus (if any) which the authority possess for cleansing the person and his clothing from vermin. The use of such apparatus shall not be considered to be parochial relief or charitable allowance to the person using the same, or to the parent of such person, and no such person or parent shall by reason thereof be deprived of any right or privilege or be subject to any disqualification or disability.

Local authorities may expend any reasonable sum on buildings, appliances, and attendants that may be required for the carrying out of this Act, and any expenses for these purposes may be defrayed out of any rate or fund applicable by the authority for general sanitary purposes or for the relief of the poor. (6)

Power to local authorities to provide cleansing, &c., for persons infested with vermin.

VAGRANCY ACT, 1898.

61 & 62 VICT. c. 39.

1 (1) Every male person who-

(a) knowingly lives wholly or in part on the earnings of Persons

prostitution; or

trading in

(b) in any public place persistently solicits or importunes for prostitution. immoral purposes, (p)

shall be deemed a rogue and vagabond within the meaning of the

Vagrancy Act, 1824,(q) and may be dealt with accordingly.

(0) In the administrative county of London, exclusive of the City of London, the borough councils are now the sanitary authorities: 62 &

63 Vict. c. 14, s. 2.

(p) Cf. Criminal Law Amendment Act, ss. 1 and 2, ante, p. 169.

(a) 5 Geo. 4, c. 83, ante, p. 196.

61 & 62 Vict. c. 39.

(2) If it is made to appear to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction by information on oath that there is reason to suspect that any house or any part of a house is used by a female for purposes of prostitution, and that any male person residing in or frequenting the house is living wholly or in part on the earnings of the prostitute, the Court may issue a warrant authorising any constable to enter and search the house and to arrest that male person.

(3) Where a male person is proved to live with or to be habitually in the company of a prostitute and has no visible means of subsistence, he shall, unless he can satisfy the Court to the contrary, be deemed to be knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution.

POOR LAW ACT, 1899.

62 & 63 VICT. c. 37.

1 "For sub-sections one, two, and four of section one of the Poor Law Act, 1889 (r) (which sub-sections are hereby repealed), shall be substituted the following sub-sections:—

(1) Where a child is maintained by the guardians of a poor law union and

(i.) the child has been deserted by its parent; or
(ii.) the guardians are of opinion that by reason of mental
deficiency, or of vicious habits or mode of life, a parent of
the child is unfit to have the control of it; or

(iii.) a parent is unable to perform his or her parental duties by
reason of being under sentence of penal servitude or of
being detained under the Inebriates Act, 1898; (8) or
(iv.) a parent of the child has been sentenced to imprisonment
in respect of any offence against any of his or her
children; or

(v.) a parent of the child is permanently bedridden or disabled,
and is the inmate of a workhouse, and consents to the
resolution hereinafter mentioned; or

(vi.) both the parents, or in the case of an illegitimate child the

mother of the child, are or is dead;

the guardians may at any time resolve that until the child reaches the age of eighteen years all the rights and powers of such parent as aforesaid, or if both parents are dead of the parents, in respect of the child shall, subject as in this Act mentioned, vest in the guardians, and thereupon those rights and powers shall so vest accordingly, and shall continue so vested whether the child does or does not continue to be maintained by the guardians.

1

46

Provided that the guardians may rescind the resolution if they think that it will be for the benefit of the child that it should be rescinded, or may permit the child to be, either permanently or temporarily, under the control of the parent, or of any other relative, or of any friend, or of any society or institution for the care of children."

"(2) A Court of Summary Jurisdiction, if satisfied on complaint made by a parent, or if there is no parent by the guardian of a child, that there was no ground for the resolution, or that it is for the benefit of the child that it should be either permanently or temporarily under the control of its parent or guardian, or that the resolution of the guardians should be determined, may make an order accordingly, and the guardians shall comply with any such order, and if the order determines the resolution the resolution shall be thereby determined as from the date of the order, and the guardians shall cease to have the rights and powers of the parent as respects the child."

2 If any person—

(a) knowingly assists, directly or indirectly, a child who has, in
pursuance of section one of the Poor Law Act, 1889, or in
pursuance of this Act, been placed under the control of
guardians, to leave, without the consent of the guardians,
the place where the child is under that control; or
(b) knowingly induces, directly or indirectly, any such child so
to leave that place; or

(c) knowingly harbours or conceals a child who has so left that
place, or prevents him from returning to that place,
he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding
twenty pounds.

3 In the case of any child who is deemed to be maintained by the guardians of a poor law union within the meaning of sub-section three of section one of the Poor Law Act, 1889, (t) and who is with their consent adopted by any person, the guardians shall, during a period of three years from the date of such adoption, cause the child to be visited at least twice in each year by some competent person appointed by them for the purpose, who shall report to them on such visit. The guardians may, if they think fit, at any time during such period, revoke their consent to the adoption, and thereupon the child shall be forthwith returned to them by the person having the custody of the same.

(t) Ante, p. 200.

62 & 63 Vict.

c. 37.

Penalty on assisting children to escape from

control of

guardians, &c.

Provision as to adopted

children.

XIII.

BASTARDY.

Short title.

Repeal of

enactments as in schedule.

Putative father to be summoned to petty sessions

on application of mother of bastard child.

BASTARDY ACT, 1872.

35 & 36 VICT. c. 65.

WHEREAS an Act was passed in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Her Majesty, chapter one hundred and one, intituled "An Act for the further amendment of the laws relating to the poor in England." (a)

And whereas it is expedient to amend the said recited Act with respect to proceedings in bastardy.

Be it enacted, &c.:

1 This Act may be cited as The Bastardy Laws Amendment Act, 1872."

2 The enactments specified in the First Schedule to this Act ar hereby repealed, except as to anything heretofore duly done thereunder, and except so far as may be necessary for the purpose of supporting and continuing any proceeding taken before the passing of this Act.

3 Any single (b) woman who may be with child or who may be delivered of a bastard child after the passing of this Act may either before the birth or at any time within twelve months from the birth of such child, (c) or at any time thereafter, upon proof (d) that the man alleged to be the father of such child has within the twelve months next after the birth of such child paid money for its maintenance, or at any time within the twelve months next after the return to England of the man alleged to be the father of such child,

(a) Ante, p. 198.

(b) This includes a widow (R. v. Wymondham, 2 Q. B. 541), and also a married woman living separate from her husband (R. v. Collingwood, 17 L. J. 168).

(c) Should the child, however, become chargeable to the parish, the guardians may apply at any time before the child is thirteen under the Bastardy Laws Amend

ment Act, 1873, 36 Vict. c. 9, s. 5, but nothing in that section shall be deemed to relieve the mother of her liability to maintain the child. See post, p. 208.

(d) The payment should be proved on oath prior to the issuing of the summons (R. v. Berry, 28 L. J. 86), but there is no need for corroboration on this point (Hodges v. Bennett, 29 L. J. M. C. 224).