MAGISTRATES' COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 260, 2 November 1877, Page 2

MAGISTRATES' COURT.

[Before H. E. Curtis and J. Sclanders, Esqs., J.J.P.] Wood v. Black. Judgment was delivered in thi3 affiliation case this morning in favor of complainant. From the facts of the case given be'.ow it will be seen that the judgment is the reverse of that lately given by Lowther Broad, Esq., R.M., in the recent case of Walker v. Price. Mr Fell (for Mr Bunny) appeared throughout for the complainant, and Mr Pitt for the defendant. The arguments in the case occupied the Court nearly the whole of two days. An order in this case was in the first instance made by Mr Mackay, R.M., for the payment of 5s per week by defendant, but being imperfectly drawn up it was found impossible to issue execution under it. A fresh complaint was then made, but meantime more than six months had elapsed since the birth of the child, though not since the first demand for maintenance, made six weeks after its birth, bad been refused, the case differing in this point only froni that of Walker v. Price. Mr Pitt contended that so long as the old order remained in existence and had not been quashed, it was not competent for the Court to entertain any further complaint upon the same matter. And further, that more than six months having elapsed since the birth of the child before the complaint was laid the proceedings were wholly bad. Mr Fell cited cases proving thafc an order bad upon the face of it was merely a nullity and could be disregarded without going through the form of quashing it, and argued at great length that the "cause of complaint," which mu3t have arisen within six

months from the. time of commencing the proceedings, was, under the law of New Zealand, "refusal to maintain," and not the fact of paternity. The Bench delivered judgment overruling the points of law raised by Mr Pitt, and ordering defendant to pay 7a 6d per week for the maintenance of the child until it reaches the age of thirteen.