In force Feb.[February] 13, 1835.
AN ACT to amend the act, entitled “An act for the relief of the poor,” approved, March
1, 1833.
1Proof of twelve months residence in the county necessary to obtain relief.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That when application is made by any pauper, or paupers, to the county commissioners’ court of any county in this State, for relief, it shall be necessary for said county commissioners’ court to require of said pauper or paupers, satisfactory evidence that he, she or they,
have been residents of said county for twelve months immediately preceding the day
upon which such application is made.
When non-residents, how dealt with.
Sec. 2. That when on application made by any pauper or paupers, to the county commissioners’ court as aforesaid, it shall appear to the satisfaction of said court, that the person or persons so applying for relief, have resided in said county agreeably
to the provisions of the first section of this act, he, she or they, shall be entitled
to all the relief provided by the act to which this is an amendment; but if on the
contrary, it shall appear to the satisfaction of
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said county commissioners’ court, that said pauper or paupers, shall not have been residents of said county agreeably
to the provisions of the first section of this act, they shall proceed to remove from
their county, at the expense of said county, said pauper or paupers to the county
or State where said pauper or paupers may have had his, her or their last place of
residence, or may, if they think best, issue a notice directed to some constable of
the county, which notice said constable shall serve forthwith on said pauper or paupers,
requiring him, her or them, to depart said county forthwith; and after so serving
said notice, by reading the same to said pauper or paupers, said constable shall,
within five days thereafter, return the same to the clerk of the county commissioners’ court issuing the same, noting the time and manner of serving the same thereon.
Sec. 3. After service of such notice as aforesaid, no pauper or paupers shall be entitled
to relief from such county, any law or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.
County commissioners authorized to erect work houses.
Sec. 4. The county commissioners’ court of any county in this State, may, if they see proper, cause to be built or procured, in their respective counties,
convenient workhouses for the accommodation and employment of such paupers as may
from time to time become a county charge; said work-houses and paupers to be under
such rules and regulations as said county commissioners’ court may deem proper and just; and if any person shall bring and leave any pauper or paupers
in any county in this State, wherein such pauper is not lawfully settled, knowing him or them to be paupers,
he shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred dollars for every such offence, to be sued for and recovered by, and to the use of such county, by action of debt,
before any justice of the peace in the proper county.2
Approved, Feb. 13, 1835.
1William Fithian introduced HB 157 in the House of Representatives on January 26, 1835. The House referred it to a select committee. On January 29,
the select committee reported back the bill with an amendment, in which the House
concurred. On January 31, the House again referred the bill to a select committee.
On February 2, the select committee reported back the bill with sundry amendments,
in which the House concurred, and passed the bill as amended. On February 3, the
Senate took up the bill, laying it on the table. On February 12, the Senate took up the
bill again and, on a vote of 10 to 6, passed it. On February 13, the Council of Revision approved the bill and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the Ninth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, at their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December
1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 374, 386-87, 426, 462-63, 466, 555, 573; Journal of the Senate, of the Ninth General Assembly of the State of Illinois, at
their First Session, Begun and Held in the Town of Vandalia, December 1, 1834 (Vandalia, IL: J. W. Sawyer, 1835), 404, 414, 512-13, 531, 532.
Printed Document, 2 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Ninth General Assembly, at their First Session (Vandalia, IL:
J. Y. Sawyer, 1835), 66-67, GA Session: 9-1