Opinion ID: 1115867
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Codification of Familial Obligations of Support

Text: The proposed New York Field Codes contain the first codification we are able to find of the familial duty of support outside the poor laws. These codes were the product of a commission directed by David Dudley Field between the years 1846 and 1865 formed to codify the law of New York. The codes are a restatement and reformation of then existing statutory and common law. The success of the Field Codes is evidenced by the fact that they served as a model for many codification attempts elsewhere in the country, including one of the first Oregon codes in 1853. The Field Codes were organized into five separate codes: Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Political Code, Penal Code and Civil Code. The New York laws regulating public support of the poor were allocated to the Political Code. [8] These laws, patterned after the Elizabethan statutes, included a relative responsibility statute which obliged parents, children and siblings to support each other. [9] Another duty of support, limited to parents and children, appeared in the proposed Civil Code. [10] This duty provided: It is the duty of the father, the mother, and the children of any poor person who is unable to maintain himself by work, to maintain such person to the extent of their ability   . § 97 Ninth Report of the Field Commission, Completed Civil Code (1865). The drafters' reliance on existing caselaw is evident from the commentary that accompanied the final draft of the commission's report. The commentary explained: The provisions of the Poor Laws declare the duty of parents and children to support each other (1 R.S. 614, § 1); but it is held that the obligation on the part of children is purely statutory, and no other remedy exists except that provided by proceedings under those laws (Edwards v. Davis 16 Johns., 281). It is the object of this section to recognize the obligation as a ground of legal liability independent of those provisions. On the part of parents, the obligation is not now merely statutory (Cromwell v. Benjamin, 41 Barb., 558). But in England it has been so held (Shelton v. Springett, 11 C.B., 452; Mortimore v. Wright, 6 M. & W., 488). Commentary to § 97, Ninth Report of the Field Commission, Completed Civil Code (1865). This draft post-dates the enactment of the Oregon Code of 1853, as does the cited case of Cromwell v. Benjamin, supra . It provides, however, the fullest explanation of the intent of the Field Code drafters, an intent unaltered by the Cromwell decision. The drafters sought to create a parental duty to support children similar to that found in the poor laws but independent of those provisions and independently enforceable. The duty of support in the poor laws is based on the familial relationship, not the minority status of the child. The duty continues so long as the family member is in need. These two separate duties of familial support appeared in the first code of Oregon. When the code commission [11] presented its report on the draft code to the Oregon Territorial Legislature in 1853, the duty now found in ORS 109.010 was placed among the civil laws, and the relative responsibility law, now ORS 416.061, was set forth under the heading Support of the Poor, reflecting the Field Code format. Report of the Code Commissioners (1853) 41, 234. The laws were enacted in this format. Statutes of Oregon 1854, p. 360, 463. The placement of two duties of familial support in different sections of the code, one public in nature, the other civil and private, mirrors the independent development of the duties of support in the United States. The relative responsibility statute, and the overall scheme of public support for the poor of which it is a part have been amended throughout the years [12] but the basic premise that certain relatives are liable to relieve the public burden of support of the poor has remained unchanged. The obligation, originally enforced by counties, Statutes of Oregon 1854, p. 463, is now enforced by a state agency. ORS 416.100. The current relatives' responsibility statute is found under the Adult and Family Services title in the Recovery of Assistance Payments Chapter. ORS 416.061. [13] The statutes reflect changes resulting from administrative expansion. [14] However, despite the change in form and structure from the early Elizabethan poor laws, the purpose of relieving the burden for support of the poor through enforcement actions against relatives brought by the government on behalf of the public remains the same. [15] ORS 109.010 has undergone no textual changes of substance. As originally enacted, it appeared under the title parents and children together with laws regulating other relationships between guardians, wards, masters, apprentices and servants. Since the Deady Code, the statute has appeared among the Domestic Relations laws. General Laws of Oregon, ch. 12, p. 679 (Deady 1845-1864).