Habitual Drunkards. CHAPTER XLII. HABITUAL DRUNKARDS. THE statutes generally provide proceedings by which the sale of liquors to habitual drunkards may be forbidden and punished, and also proceedings by which habitual drunkards, who are incapacitated from taking care of themselves and their property, may be placed under the charge of a guardian termed a committee. The latter proceeding, which is akin to that taken in case of insane persons, is treated in the chapter of INSANE PERSONS. The excise laws of New York(a) provide that the wife, husband, parent or guardian of an habitual drunkard, may, upon complaint, procure from a justice of the peace, notice to dealers not to furnish liquor. It is provided by another statute, (b) that the overseers of the poor may designate a person as an habitual drunkard, and give similar notice upon their own motion. Copies of the notice should be personally served on all persons required to obey it. The person designated as a drunkard may contest the fact before a jury. For that purpose he must apply to a justice of the peace for process to summon the jury; immediate notice of which, and of the time and place of the hearing, is to be given to the overseer by the justice. The jury are to be summoned, returned, etc., and witnesses subpoenaed, etc., in the same manner as in ordinary suits before justices of the peace. The verdict of the jury is to be entered by the justice in his docket. If the jury find that the person is an habitual drunkard, judgment must be entered against him, and an execution issued for the costs; if the jury find the contrary, judgment must be rendered accordingly; but no execution can be issued against the overseer, unless he acted in bad faith, and did not have reasonable cause for making the designation. PAGE 889. Complaint and petition of wife, etc., for notice forbidding sale of liquor.... 484 840. Notice to dealer forbidding sale 485 841. Designation of habitual drunkard, and notice to dealer by overseers of the 839. Complaint and Petition of Wife, etc., for Notice Forbidding Sale of COUNTY OF 88. Liquor. is her C. B., of being duly sworn, says, that A. B., of said husband [or, his wife; or, child under the age of twenty-one years], and that he [or, she] is an habitual drinker of intoxicating liquors [here state some particulars substantiating the complaint], and that K. L. and M. N., are accustomed to furnish such liquors to him [or, her]: of (a) 2 Laws of 1857, 418. (b) 1 Rev. Stat., 686. Proceedings to Prevent Sale of Liquors. WHEREFORE, deponent asks that notices may be issued to said K. L. and M. N., according to the statute, forbidding the sale or giving of such liquors to him [or, her]. SWORN [etc., as in Form ]. 840. Notice to Dealer, Forbidding Sale, etc. To [here name dealer complained of]: [Signature.] You are hereby forbidden to sell or give intoxicating liquors to C. B., for the term of six months from the date of this notice, under the penalty of fifty dollars and costs for each offence; complaint having been duly made to me, with satisfactory proof pursuant to the statute, that he [or, she] is an habitual drinker of such liquors. [Signature of officer.] [Date.] 841. Designation of Habitual Drunkard, and Notice to Dealer, by Overseers I, the undersigned, overseer of the poor of said town, having discovered A. B., of said town, to be an habitual drunkard, do hereby designate him as such habitual drunkard, and describe him as follows [description]: And every merchant, distiller, shopkeeper, tavernkeeper, or other dealer in spirituous liquors, and every other person residing within. , is required not to give or sell, under any pretence, any spirituous liquors to the said A. B. [Date.] [Signature and title.] You are hereby notified, that A. B., who has been designated by you as an habitual drunkard, has applied to me for a process to summon a jury to try and determine the fact of such drunkenness; and that I have fixed the day of instant, at o'clock in the noon, at my office in said town, as the time and place for such trial. To any constable of said county, greeting: in said county, was designated and described by C. D. and E. F., overseers of the poor of said town, as an habitual drunkard; and, by the verdict of a jury duly empanelled, drawn and sworn, before me, the undersigned justice, upon the application of the said A. B., it is found that he is an habitual drunkard; whereupon, I have rendered judgment against the said A. B., for the costs of the said over * Habitual Drunkards. seers in attending the trial, amounting to the sum of dollars: YOU ARE THEREFORE hereby commanded, in the name of the People of the State of New York, to levy the said costs † of the goods and chattels of the said A. B. [excepting such goods and chattels as are exempt by law from execution], and bring the money which you shall collect, sixty days from the date hereof, before me, at my office in to render to said over seers. [If the drunkard is a male person, add here: And if no such goods and chattels, or not sufficient to satisfy this execution, can be found, you are further required to take the body of the said A. B., and convey him to the common jail of said county, there to remain until this execution shall be satisfied and paid.] [As in preceding form to the*, and then add:] it is found that he is not an habitual drunkard; and, inasmuch as it appeared to me that the said overseers of the poor did not act in good faith, and had not reasonable cause to believe the said A. B. to be an habitual drunkard, I have entered judgment against the said C. D. and E. F., overseers, for the costs of the said A. B., amounting to the sum of dollars: YOU ARE THEREFORE hereby commanded, in the name of the People of the State of New York, to levy the said costs [as in preceding form from the † to the end, including the imprisonment clause, and varying as may be requisite]. 845. Revocation by the Overseers, Where a Drunkard Reforms. TOWN OF County of ?} 88. Being satisfied that A. B., respecting whose drunkenness a notice has heretofore been given by us [or, by C. D. and E. F., overseers of the poor of said town], has reformed and become temperate, we do hereby revoke and annul the said notice. [Date.] [Signatures and titles.] Analysis of the Chapter. CHAPTER XLIII. HIGHWAYS. HIGHWAYS are roads or streets and bridges, laid out or erected by the public, or by others, and dedicated or abandoned to the public. Roads recorded as highways, according to law, and any roads used as such for a period of twenty years, are highways. By the statutes of New York, whenever any corporation owning a toll-bridge, or a turnpike or plank road, is dissolved or discontinues the road, the bridge or road becomes a highway. By taking or accepting land for a highway, the public acquires only the right of way, and the incidents necessary to enjoying and maintaining it, subject to the regulation of the towns. All trees within the highway, except only such as are requisite to make or repair the road or bridges, on the same land, are for the use of the owner or occupant of the land. This whole subject, however, and the mode of proceeding to lay out, work, alter and close highways, is so fully regulated by the statutes, and there are so many peculiar local systems in the various States, that the statute-book is a safer guide than any statement which such a work as this could give. The following forms, though taken from the practice pursued in New York, will be found useful guides elsewhere. I. APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS AND ASSESSMENT OF LABOR, etc. PAGE 488 439 439 Analysis of the Chapter. II. PROCEEDINGS TO LAY OUT, ALTER OR DISCONTinue Roads. 886. Agreement as to damages.. ..... 874. Application to lay out new highway, with consent of land-owner. 875. Order thereon.. 876. Application to alter highway, with consent.. 877. Order thereon..... 878. Application to lay out new highway, without consent.. 879. Order thereon.... 880. Affidavit of posting. 881. Oaths of freeholders. 882. Certificate of necessity.. 888. Notice to occupant of land. 884. Order laying out the road..... 885. Order refusing to, lay out the road. 887. Release of damages.... 888. Application for assessment of damages.. 889. Order appointing commissioners to assess. 890. Notice of appointment... 891. Oath of commissioners.. 892. Oath to witnesses... 893. Assessment of damages.. 894. Notice of reassessment.. 895. Certificate of drawing of jury. 896. Summons to jurors... PAGE 448 448 449 449 449 449 450 450 450 450 451 . 451 451 452 452 452 452 453 458 458 453 454 454 900. Determination of controversy between two towns.. 901. Order laying out highway on line between two towns. 902. Application to discontinue road... 903. Oath of freeholders..... 904. Certificate of propriety of discontinuing. I. APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS AND ASSESSMENT OF LABOR, ETU. 846. Bond of Commissioner of Highways. KNOW ALL MEN by these presents, that we, A. B., C. D. and E. F., of the town of Columbus, county of |