Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

10 G. & J. 374

Root v. State

Court of Appeals of Maryland

Decided June 15, 1839

Court of Appeals of Maryland · decided 1839-06-15

This was an indictment against the plaintiff in error for being the father of an illegitimate child. The mother and the child resided in Frederick county, and the father, the plaintiff in error, in Carroll county.

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently February 1901

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1839-06-15

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Chambers, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2The proceeding against a putative father of an illegitimate' child is a peculiar one, prescribed by the act of assembly, by the' terms of which jurisdiction is vested in a single magistrate, whose judgment in the discretion of the person charged, may' be reviewed by the jury in a county court.

¶3The jurisdiction and mode of proceeding being peculiar, must be exactly pursued.

¶4The affidavit of the mother was in this case properly made' in Frederick, where she resided with the child, and transmitted' to Carroll, where the putative father resided; and the magis-' trate in Carroll properly recognized the party to appear at the' next session of the Carroll county court, for so'we must un-’ derstand the recognizance to intend.

¶5All the subsequent proceedings are erroneous; the indictment so far from being pursuant to the affidavit, makes a case, in' which all the parties reside in Carroll county, and in which consequently Carroll county is to be indemnified.

¶6On this indictment, a verdict was rendered against the par-' ty charged, and the judgment on that verdict, so far from pur-' suing its finding, directs a recognizance to indemnify Frederick coutuy.

¶7The indictment should have stated the fact of the mother’s' residence with the child in Frederick; so that the verdict could-' *377be properly given, to compel the recognizance to indemnify the county of Frederick.

¶8As no new proceedings could be instituted in Carroll county, by which the errors complained of can be corrected, we shall not order a procedendo*

¶9JUDGMENT REVERSED,

/10/gj/374 · .json · Public domain