This is a proceeding under section 899 of the Criminal Code to compel the defendant to support his daughter. The counsel for the defendant claims: 1. That the Society for the Prevention of
Chapter 130, Laws 1875, being an act in relation to these societies, provides that they may- prefer a complaint before any court or magistrate having jurisdiction for the violation of any law relating to or affecting children, and may aid in bringing the facts before such court or magistrate, in- any proceeding.
Section 899 of the Criminal Code provides, that any persons who shall “neglect to provide for their children according to their means,” are disorderly persons, and if found upon examination to be a disorderly person, the magistrate may require a written undertaking to support the child, and indemnify the city against its becoming a charge upon the public. This most certainly is a law “ relating to or affecting children.!’
It would be difficult to conceive of a law which" more vitally affects a child. It relates to and affects the subject of subsistence, which prevents starvation and secures the continuance of life. There is a natural as well as legal obligation on the part of the parent to support the child, and if parents so far forget or neglect this obligation, the State very properly steps in and enforces the performance of such duty. The very object, purpose and spirit of this society is to care for. such cases, and to see that the laws are rigidly and in good faith administered. It is a most beneficenj; pur-: pose, and should receive the encouragement of courts and judges. My experience' as a criminal magistrate has convinced me of the great want of such an organization. As Judge Westbrook has said, “it is a most "wise, salutary and beneficent statute, born of Christian civilization, and founded upon the teachings of Him to whom children" were objects of tender love and care.”
I am, therefore, of the opinion that the society can prosecute these cases under section 899 of the Criminal • Code.
This brings me to the merits of the case. It is claimed that, the child having voluntarily left its home, the father is absolved from the obligation to support and maintain it. From the evidence I am impressed with the feeling and belief that the child did not receive the treatment it should have received, and that this harsh treatment had much to do with the child’s leaving. In the case of wives abandoning their husbands, it becomes the duty of the wife to offer to return and live with the husband, and a rejection of such offer would be deemed an abandonment. This class of cases cannot, in the nature of the relation, apply to children. Children are weak, capricious, lack judgment, and are not to be held responsible for their acts, the same as adults, which distinguish them materially from the case of the wife.
The defendant’s counsel suggests that I am a
I therefore hold that the defendant is guilty of being a disorderly person under section 899 of the Criminal Code, and require that he give a written undertaking as required by section 901 of the Criminal Code.