Case Name: The Inhabitants of Knox vs. The Inhabitants of Waldoborough
Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Maine
Decision Date: 1825-06
Citations: 3 Me. 455
Docket Number: 
Parties: The Inhabitants of Knox vs. The Inhabitants of Waldoborough.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maine Reports
Volume: 3
Pages: 455–457

Head Matter:
The Inhabitants of Knox vs. The Inhabitants of Waldoborough.
An absence of five years was holden not to change the domicil of the party, he having left home to seek temporary employment, and there being no evidence that this purpose had been altered.
An alien is capable of acquiring a settlement in this State, under the provisions of Slat. 1821, ch. 122.
IN Ibis case the question was upon the domicil of John Braddock, an alien, whose wife was the pauper for whose support the action was brought. She had her legal settlement originally in Waldoborough; was married to Braddocli in 1790 ; and removed to Knox, where they resided at the time of its incorporation, and until the year 1819 ; when he left her, and went into the British provinces, “for the purpose of laboring,” and had not since returned. About the time he departed, she visited her friends in Waldoborough; among whom she remained till the spring of 1820, when she returned to Knox, where she has since continued to reside. They had no family.
Upon these facts Perham J. in the Court below, ruled that her settlement was in Waldoborough; to which the defendants excepted.
Jlbbot, in support of the exceptions,
argued that the provisions of Slat. 1821, ch. 122, extended as well to aliens as to citizens; and that Braddock acquired a settlement under that act, for himself and his wife, by having his domicil in Knox on the 21st of March 1821. His absence from the town on that day does not affect the question ; as the case finds that this was only for the temporary purpose of seeking employment. Granby v. Jlmherst 7 Mass. 1. Jibinglon v. Boston 4 Mass. 312. 11 Mass. 432. Vattel, book 2, ch. 13, sec. 218.
If he had wholly abandoned his wife, there seems no good reason why she may not have acquired a settlement for herself, in the same manner. The principle upon which it has been enacted that a wife shall take the settlement of her husband, is that they ought not to be separated. But if he has abandoned her, that reason fails ; and as in that event she is treated in some other respects as a feme sole, why not in this also ?
Further, it was tbe intention of the legislature to fix, by one act of legislation, the settlement of every person, except paupers, resident in this State on the day the statute was enacted. The ■wife was thus resident, within the express terms of the act; and of course settled thereby in Knox. Her husband, being an alien, could acquire no settlement under the laws of Massachusetts; and if he had abandoned the country, he could not be affected by those of Maine.
Wilson, for the plaintiffs,
contended that an alien was not capable of acquiring any settlement in this State, unless by express statutory provision ; and that the general language of the statute respecting the settlement of the poor, ought not to be construed to include aliens ; it being in most instances only a transcript of Slat. 1793, ch. 34, which had already received a judicial interpretation excluding them.
But if they were thus capable, yet Braddock gained no settlement under the act of 1831, he having abandoned the country long before it was passed, and returned to the government to which his allegiance was due.

Opinion:
Mellen C. J.
delivered the opinion of the Court, as follows.
Mary Braddock, the pauper, at the time of her marriage with John Braddock, had her legal settlement in Waldoborough ; and as her husband is an alien and has never been naturalized, she retains that settlement still, unless he has gained a settlement in some other town in this State in virtue of the act oí March 31st 1831. It is clear that he gained none by his residence in Knox at the time of its incorporation, in consequence of his being an alien. Jefferson v. Litchfield 1 Greenl. 196. But it is contended that he gained one in Knox by his dwelling in that town on the said 31st of March 1831. The language of our statute of 1831, is different from that of Massachusetts ; it being so general as to embrace aliens as well as citizens ; and such was the intention. We have had occasion to examine this point before ; and we are all satisfied that John Braddock was a person by our law capable of gaining a settlement by residence, dwelling, and having his home in a particular town in this State on the day the act was passed. The only remaining question is whether, according to the true intent and meaning of the law he did reside and dwell and have his home in Knox on that day. By the report it appears that in the latter part of 1819, he went into the British provinces for the purpose of laboring ; and has not yet returned. It does not appear what family he had, except his wife. He left her in Knox. Soon after, she went on a visit to her friends in Waldobo-rough, and returned to Knox in the following spring of 1820, where she has continued to reside ever since. From these facts the legal conclusion must be drawn. It was his home in the fall of 1819. It has continued the home of the wife ever since ; for she merely made a visit at Waldoborough. It does not appear that he has any other home in any particular place with intent to remain there ; or that he had on the 21st of March 1821. The case states that Braddock is an alien ; but does not state his national character. If in fact he is an Englishman, and if the case had been silent as to his motive and object in going to the British provinces, his having continued there so long would furnish a strong ground of presumption that he left this part of the country with an intention never to return. But we are pot at liberty in this case to make any inferences as to his motive and object, because the report expressly states that he went to the provinces for the purpose of laboring. And from this circumstance, the legal presumption is that, when the above named act was passed, he was there animo revertendi, rather than animo manendi; and the continuance of his wife in the place where they had dwelt prior to his leaving the town, comes in aid of the legal presumption arising from the other circumstances which we have mentioned. We ought not to presume that a man has abandoned his wife and family and absconded to a foreign country, merely from such an absence, especially when it is stated to have been for purposes of business. . For these reasons we are of opinion that Jote Braddock must be considered as having resided, dwelt and had his home in the town of Knox on the 21st oí March 1821 ; and of course he thereby gained a settlement there; and his wife gained one there also with him, and thus lost her former settlement in Waldoborough.