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13 Johns. 480

Van Valkinburgh v. Watson

New York Supreme Court

Decided October 15, 1816

New York Supreme Court · decided 1816-10-15

<p>A parent is bound to provide his infant children with necessaries, and if he neglect to do so, a third person may supply them, and charge the pa5rent with the amount.</p> <p>But such third •person must take notice of what is neeessa ry for the infant, according to his situation in life, and where the", infant lives with bis parent, and is provided for by hi,ro, a per son furnishing necessaries cannot charge the parent.</p>

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““A parent is under a natural obligation to furnish necessaries for his infant children; and, if the parent neglect that duty, any other person who supplies such necessaries is deemed to have conferred a benefit on the delinquent parent, for which the law raises an implied promise to pay on the part of the parent.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Manning v. Wells

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1816-10-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 36 later decisions — most recently August 2005 · most notably De Brauwere v. . De Brauwere (1911), Santagate v. Tower (2005)

36 state decisions — followed in 11 states

4018161820183018401850186018701880189019001910192019301940195019601970198019902000decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam.

¶1-A.parent is- under a natural .obligation- to furnish necessaries for his infant children; and if-the parent "negleet that duty, any other person who ^supplies such nebessaries is deemed to have conferred a benefit on the delinquent parent, for which the law raises an implied' promise to pay; on the part of the parent. But what is actually necessary will depend on - the precise situation- of the infant, and- which the party .giving'1 the-credit must be acquainted with; at his peril. (Simpson v. Robertson, 1 Esp. Rep. 17., Ford v. Fothergill, Id. 211.) In the ease of Bainbridge v. Pickering, (2Wm. Black. Rep. 1325.,) Gould, J. says, with great propriety, “ No man shall take upoti him to dictate to a parent w-hat clothing the child shall wear, at what time they shall1 be purchased; or of whom; all. that must be leftto the discretion-of the father or mother,” Where the infant is sub potestate parentis,- there -must be a clear and palpable omission of duty, in that respect, on the part of the parent, in order to authorize any other person to act for, and charge the1 expense to, the parent. In' this case, there is no ground to charge the father with any neglect of duty, in providing necessaries for his child, and the judgment must be reversed.

¶2Judgment reversed.

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