Residence. be removed from an estate which he has purchased for less than 30.; though after he has sold it again, his previous estate will confer no settlement. (h) Thus, where a pauper resided several years on a leasehold estate granted to him for three lives, in consideration of two guineas fine, and one shilling rent; and while so residing he became actually chargeable; the Court, on a case submitted to them as to the right of the parish officers to remove him, said, "it is one thing to say that a person may not be removed, and another thing to say that he gains a settlement: here the pauper cannot be removed from his own; but being a purchaser under 30l. and the estate not devolving on him by operation of law, he gained no settlement by forty days residence on it."(i) Thus, although as we have seen, (j) a widow does not gain a settlement in her own right by residing on an estate out of which she is dowable before the assignment of dower, yet where she resides there with her children who are of tender years, she being by law their natural guardian, is not removable from the estate. (k) The following case also may further illustrate this part of the subject. The pauper's husband was settled at White Rooding, from which place he went away, and deserted his wife and children. The wife left White Rooding, and went, with her children, and "lived forty days without her husband, in a copyhold tenement of her husband's own, at Aythorp Rooding." She was removed from thence to the parish of White Rooding. The Court were unanimously of opinion, that," although the wife could not gain a settlement for her husband by residing forty days upon his own estate, yet that she was irremovable from the property of her husband; for she had a natural, or at least a matrimonial, right, to go to her husband's estate; and as there did not appear to be any dissent of her husband, it was rather to be presumed that he consented." (l) It remains to be considered what residence is necessary to a settlement by estate? To enable a party to gain a settlement by estate, there must be a residence of at least forty days in the parish where the estate lies; (m) but the residence need not be actually on the estate; it may be on another person's estate, or at an inn. (n) And the forty days' residence need not be forty successive days, but an occasional residence, coupled with a continuing estate, will suffice if there be forty days' residence in the whole. (0) But the estate must be vested in the party at the time of the residence; and therefore, where a person entitled to administration of the effects of a deceased relation resided on his leasehold premises for three years, but took out administration only eighteen days before removal, it was holden that this grant, though for some purposes having relation to the death, had not this effect in reference to settlement before it was obtained; and, therefore, no settlement could be gained under the grant; but as the party was entitled as sole next of kin to the entire estate, in this instance the settlement was sustained without reference to the grant. (p) On the other hand, if an estate descend to a pauper, and he reside in the same parish forty days afterwards, although he immediately after the acquisition contracted to sell the estate, yet if the conveyance be not executed till after the expiration of the forty days during which he has resided, he will gain a settlement. (q) All settlements acquired by estate, whether by descent or purchase, are unaffected by a certificate, and, of course, avoid it. (r) § 11. OF THE OPERATION OF CERTIFICATES. Certificates have fallen much into disuse since the Certificates. 35 Geo. 3. c. 101. declared that, "henceforth no poor persons should be removed from their places of residence till they should become actually chargeable; "(s) but as the powers to grant certificates, and their effects and consequences, still remain as they stood under the former statutes, by which they were introduced into the system of laws for the regulation of the poor, it is necessary to offer a few observations on such questions as are commonly brought before the sessions by appeal The substance of these statutes is, that any poor per- Substance of the son may go to inhabit in any other place than that in certificate acts. which he is settled, on delivering to the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish where he goes to (n) The King v. Nyot's, Burr. S. C. 132. Id. ibid. (p) The King v. Horsley, 8 East, R. 410. The King v. Dustone, 1 East, R. 296. (r) The King v. Deddington, 2 Stra. 1193. (s) 8 and 9 Will. 3. c. 30; 9 and 10 Will. 3. c. 11; 12 Ann. c. 18; 3 Geo. 2. c. 29. inhabit, a certificate under the hands and seals of the churchwardens and overseers, or the major part of them, or of the overseers where there are no churchwardens, attested by two credible witnesses, and allowed by two justices having jurisdiction, acknowledging the person or persons therein named to be legally settled in the parish granting such certificate. But at least one of the witnesses, who attest the certificate, must make oath before the justices allowing it, that he saw the churchwardens and overseers, whose names are subscribed as allowing it, actually sign and seal the same; and that the names of the witnesses are of their hand-writing, and the justices shall certify that such oath was made before them, and such certificate so allowed shall be evidence in all courts whatever. "And such certificate shall only be discharged by one of the modes hereafter treated of. "And no person so certificated, while the certificate shall continue operative, shall be able to communicate a settlement to any apprentice, or servant." Explanation of On the specific expressions in the statute, it is sufficient their language. to notice, that delivery to the churchwardens, &c. must be an actual delivery at the time the pauper goes to inhabit, for otherwise it would be opening a door to innumerable frauds;() and that the person wishing to take advantage of the certificate, must in fact reside under its authority, to satisfy the words "come into any parish," which are those of the statute of 9 and 10 Will. 3. and evidently mean, what is expressed in the other statutes on the same subject by the words, "come into, or, reside in," and "come to inhabit, or reside;" and lastly, that the words "the major part of the churchwardens," &c. which were formerly a subject of frequent controversy, are now ascertained, by statute, (u) to comprehend the case of "two persons only, acting, or purporting to act, in the capacity of churchwardens, as well as overseers of the poor," the same as if distinct persons as churchwardens, and other distinct persons as overseers of the poor, had been parties to any certificate. And by another act of a subsequent session, (v) it is further provided, on this subject," that all indentures for the binding of apprentices, and all certificates of the settlements of poor persons, which have been heretofore signed and executed, or which shall hereafter be signed and executed, by a person or persons, who at the 1) The King v. Wensley, 5 Term R. 154; 2 Bott. 439. time of his, or their, signing and executing such indenture, or certificate of settlement, acted as churchwarden or churchwardens, chapel-warden or chapel-wardens, of the township, hamlet, or chapelry, binding such poor apprentice, or granting such certificate of settlement, shall be deemed and taken to be as good, valid, and effectual, as if the same had been signed and executed by a person or persons actually sworn into the office of churchwarden or chapel-warden of such township, hamlet, or chapelry; provided always, that such person or persons shall have been duly sworn into the office of churchwarden of the parish wherein the township, hamlet, or chapelry, binding such poor apprentice, or granting such certificate, be contained, or into the office of churchwarden or chapelwarden of such township, hamlet, or chapelry; and that all indentures for the binding of poor apprentices, and all certificates of the settlements of poor persons, which shall have been heretofore signed and executed, or which may hereafter be signed and executed by the overseers of the poor of any township, hamlet, chapelry, or place, and the churchwarden or churchwardens, chapel-warden or chapelwerdens, acting for, or appointed in respect of, such township, hamlet, chapelry, or place, or the major part of them, shall be deemed and taken to be as good, valid, and effectual, as if the said indentures and certificates had been signed and executed by such overseers and churchwardens of the parish wherein such township, hamlet, chapelry, or place is situate, or the major part of them. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to alter, impeach, or affect, the settlement of any person, for whose removal any order of justices shall have been duly made before the passing of this act." Assuming, then, that the certificate is regular in point of form, and that all the steps necessary to carry it into effect have been complied with, it remains to be seen what are its consequences in ordinary cases, and how it is discharged. And first, of the immediate operation and consequences of granting a certificate. A certificate given to two persons, as man and wife, Persons not though they afterwards turn out not to have been legally married. married, is good, if there were no fraud intended, and the parties ignorant of the irregularity, such facts being ascertained from circumstances, and found by the justices. (w) (w) 2 Bott. 578. To whom it is conclusive. Misdirection of a certificate. Discharge of a certificate. A certificate is conclusive between the parish certifying, and the parish to which the certificate is granted; but as between the certifying parish, and any third parish, all matters remain open to investigation and controversy; the certificate only operates to the security of the particular parish intended; and the certificated person is not excluded by it from acquiring a settlement in another parish, in the same manner as if no certificate existed. (x) The statute does not require any particular direction; and therefore it is effectual to its purpose, whether addressed to any particular place, or addressed in general terms, or not addressed at all, provided it contain an acknowledgment of the settlement of the persons certified for. (y) In the words of Lord Kenyon, however, as a certificate is not a transferrable instrument from one parish to another, which having performed its duty in one place, can be assigned to another, (z) for then it would operate as a license to vagrancy, there must be a particular parish in contemplation at the time of granting it. (a) We come next to the consideration of the means by which a certificate may be wholly discharged. They are various: as, apprenticeship, or hiring and service, in any third parish; (b) an order of removal by justices; (c) desertion or abandonment of the certificate by the party certified; (d) the renting of a tenement of the value of 10l. per annum; the purchase of an estate for 307.; and also the acquisition of an estate by descent, marriage, or operation of law. (e) With respect to a certificated person becoming possessed of an estate by operation of law, the general comprehensive rule is, as has been noticed in a preceding page, that " any person who has an estate of freehold, copyhold, or for years, by act of law (as descent, marriage, executorship, or administration) may dwell upon it as his own; and is not removeable; and gains a settlement if he continue forty days, though under 101. per annum; but he must abide forty days in order to gain such settlement." (f) And where a cottage was devised by will to a certificated person, " to live in during his life," it was held, with residence, to discharge the certificate. (g) |