Poor

Destitute; helpless and in treme want; Rhine v. Sheboygan, 82 352, 52 N. W. 444; so completely destitute property as to require assistance from public; Stale v. Osawkee Tp., 14 Kan. 19 Am. Rep. 99. In charities the poor not be (though they generally are) the or especial object; 1 Jarm. Wills 217; but trust for the benefit of poor boys was not confined to those who required relief; 31 B. J. Ch. 810. See Charitable Uses; Begacy; Pauper.

As used in law, this term denotes those who are so destitute of property or of the means of support, either from their own labor or the Care of relatives, as to be a public charge, that is, dependent either on the charity of the general public or on maintenance at the expense of the publlc. The term is synonymous with "indigent persons" and "paupers." See State v. Osawkee Tp., 14 Kan. 421, 19 Am. Rep. 99; In re Hoffen's Estate, 70 Wis. 522, 36 N. W. 407; Heuser v. Harris, 42 111. 480; Juneau County v. Wood County. 109 Wis. 330, 85 N. W. 387; Sayres v. Springfield, 8 N. J. Law, 169.

— Poor debtor's oath. An oath allowed, in come jurisdictions, to a person who is arrested for debt. On swearing that he has not property enough to pay the debt, he is set at liberty.

— Poor law. That part of the law which relates to the public or compulsory relief of paupers.

— Poor-law hoard. The English official body appointed under St. 10 & 11 Viet. c. 109, passed in 1847, to take the place of the poor-law commissioners, under whose control the general management of the poor, and the funds fqr their relief throughout the country, had been for some years previously administered. The poor-law board is now superseded by the local government board, which was established in 1871 by St. 34 & 35 Viet. c. 70. 3 Steph. Comm. 49.

— Poor-law guardians, gee Guardians of THE POOR.

— Poor rate. In English law. A tax levied by parochial authorities for the relief of the poor.

In a statute providing for the relief of the poor: persons so completely destitute of property as to require assistance from the public. In a will, held to include those who have exhausted all means of support and are in a condition to require public aid for the supply of their necessities. "Poor," "poor person," "person in distress," "indigent person," and "pauper" may be used synonymously. "Casual poor" are such poor persons as are suddenly taken sick, or meet with accident, when from home. See Belong; Charity; Imprisonment, For debt; Pauper.

In a statute providing for the relief of the poor, means persons so completely destitute of property as to require assistance from the public. State v. Osawkee Township, 14 Kan. 418, 422. See Paupee. The poor our law takes notice of are: 1. Poor by impotency and defect; as the aged or decrepit, fatherless or motherless, those under sickness, and persons who are idiots, lunatics, lame, blind, &c., — these the overseers of the poor are to provide for. 2. Poor by casualty; such as housekeepers decayed or ruined by unavoidable misfortunes, poor persons overcharged with children, laborers disabled, — and these, having ability, are to be set to work, but, if not able to work, they are to be relieved with money. 3. Poor by prodigality and debaucliery, also called thriftless poor; as idle, slothful persons, pilferers, vagabonds, strumpets, &c., who are to be sent to the house of correction, and be put to hard labor to maintain themselves, or work is to be provided for them, that they do not perish for want; and, if they become impotent by sickness, or if their work will not maintain them, there must be an allowance by the overseers of the poor for their support. Jacob. sary to make some provision for the poor, as vpell those who were properly called indigent, i.e. unable, even with labor, to earn their own livelihood, as also those who were properly called poor, i.e. unable to live without labor. The oldest poor-law act (43 Eliz. ch. 2) preserves this distinction; but abuses having arisen out of it, of which the principal one perhaps was the extension of out>door relief to able-bodied paupers, the whole system of poor-law administration was remodelled by the Stat. 4 & 5 Wm. IV. ch. 76, and has since been still further improved. Under the Stat. 4 & 6 Wm. IV. ch. 76, which continued in force until July 31, 1847, the administration of relief to the poor throughout England and Wales was placed under the control of three commissioners, styled " the poor-law commissioners for England and Wales; " but, under the Stat. 10 & 11 Vict. ch. 109, a new board of commissioners, styled " commissioners for administering the laws for the relief of the poor in England," was appointed in their place, and was invested with all the powers and duties of the former commissioners. The style has been since altered by the Stat. 12 & 13 Vict. ch. 103, to that of the " poor-law board; " and the board under that name has been perpetuated by the Stat. 30 & 31 Vict. ch. 106. Brown. Poor debtors; Poor-debtor laws; Poor-debtor's oath. In several of the United States, statutes exist which provide, in substance, that any person arrested or imprisoned for debt, or upon mesne process in an action of contract, desirous to procure his discharge from arrest, may summon his creditor before a magistrate, and there take oath that he has no property with which to pay the debt on which he is detained; and upon this oath, due proceedings being had before the magistrate designated by -the law, he may be set at liberty. Persons entitled to the benefit of such laws are called poor-debtors; and the law and the oath, respectively, are known as the poor-debtor law and the poordebtor's oath. Poor-la'w board. The English official body appointed under Stat. 10 & 11 Vict, ch. 109, passed in 1847, to take the place of the poor-law commissioners, under whose control the general management of the poor, and the funds for their relief throughout the country, had been for some years previously administered. The poor-law board is now superseded by the local government board, which was established in 1871 by Stat. 34 & 35 Vict. ch. 70. 3 Stepli. Coin. 49. vessels, with reference to the discharge and reception of cargoes, the performance of their contracts of af Ereightment, and the execution of the laws governing importation and exportation of merchandise. There is a distinction between a port and a harbor (y. ».), though the words are often used interchangeably. "Harbor " denotes the geographical or natura.1 character of a basin; it is one fitted for the reception and mooring of vessels. " Port" denotes its civil or legal character; it is a spot designated by law where vessels may enter and discharge cargoes, and from which they may be cleared for new voyages. Ports are almost always located at harbors; but along a line of coast, where there was nothing that could properly be called a harbor, it might well be that landing-places might be designated by law as ports. A port is an aggregate, consisting of somewhat that is natural, viz. an access of the sea, whereby ships may conveniently come; safe situation against winds, where they may safely lie, and a good shore, where they may well unlade; somewhat that is artificial, as keys and wharves, and cranes and warehouses, and houses of common receipt; and something that is civil, viz. privileges and franchises, the right of mooring, the right of selling, and other additaments given to it by civil authority. A port of the sea includes more than the bare place where the ships unlade, and sometimes extends many miles, — as the port of London, in the time of King Edward I., extended to Greenwich; and Gravesend is also a member of the port of London; so the port of Newcastle takes in all the river from Sparhawk to the sea. Hah, De Portubus Maris, Ft. IL ch. 2. In the revenue laws, "port" and "district " are often used as words of the same import, in cases where the limits of the port and district are the same. Ayer v. Thacher, 3 Mas. 153, 155. The term port is to be taken in reference to the subject-matter to which it is applied; and although it generally means a harbor or shelter for vessels from storms, yet, when applied to places on a coast where there are no harbors, it may mean only a road or anchorage-place, for the purpose of loading and unloading cargoes. De Longueraere w. New York Fire Ins. Co., 10 Johns. 120; De Longuemere v. Fhemen las. Co., Id. 126. Where a policy contained a clause that the insurers take " no risk in port but searisk," it was held that the term port was the " high seas," and referred to any port into which the vessel might of necessity enter during the voyage insured. Patrick v. Commercial Ins. Co., 11 Johns. 9. A vessel has not arrived in port until she drops anchor or is moored. Gray v. Gardner, 17 Mass. 188. A vessel, insured until her arrival at a certain port, is protected by the policy until she reaches the spot in that port where it is intended to discharge her cargo, and which is the usual place of discharge. But if she is destined to one or more places for the delivery of cargo, and delivery or discharge of a portion of her cargo is necessary, not by reason of her having reached any destined place of delivery, but as a necessary and usual nautical measure, to enable her to reach such usual and destined place of delivery, she cannot properly be considered as having arrived at the usual and customary place of discharge, when she is at anchor for the purpose only of using such means as will better enable her to reach it. If she cannot get to the destined and usual place of discharge in the port because she is too deep, and must be lightened to get there, and, to aid in prosecuting the voyage, cargo is thrown overboard or put into lighters, such discharge does not make that the place of arrival; it is only a stopping-place in the voyage. Simpson v. Pacific Mutual Ins. Co., 1 Holmes, 136. Under a charter-party providing that, " if the said ship enters into the port of Lisbon, the voyage ends," it is for a jury to determine whether, by going to the outer port of Lisbon (about five miles from the town), the ship " entered " the port of Lisbon. Goddard v. Bulow, 1 Natl Sr M. 45. See Ab-