Scottish Court of Session Decisions

Andrew Wallace, Inspector of Poor of Parish of Govan Combination, raised a Sheriff Court action against Thomas Highet, Inspector of Poor of the Parish of Muirkirk, and Peter Beattie, Inspector of Poor of the Barony Parish of Glasgow, concluding that the defenders, either or both, should relieve him of all past or future payments for behoof of an insane pauper named David Ross.

From the proof which was led in the case it appeared that Ross was a marine fireman, that he had been born about 1838 in the parish of Muirkirk, and had married Jane Lindsay in 1862. In the end of 1872 his wife and family went to lodge with a Mrs M'Inally, whose house was in Barony parish, and stayed there till the following April, being visited by Ross on the two occasions of his return from sea during that period. In April 1873 they all removed to lodgings in the house of a Mrs Devine in the same parish. There was some conflict of evidence as to whether these lodgings were taken by Ross himself or by his wife. Mrs Devine's evidence on the matter was as follows:—“I know the David Ross referred to in this action. They came from Mrs M'Inally's, next close to my house. I think they came to me in April. They would be with me from April to June of the following year. It was David Ross who took the lodgings with me. I can't say whether he was often at home while they stayed with me, but she got his money all the time he was away. Her husband was at home sometimes. From my house they removed to Clyde Street. They had no furniture in my house except bedding. Cross-examined.—Mrs Ross had the privilege of the kitchen while she stayed in my house. She did not work outside. I can't say how often her husband was with her, but I know he was home several times. She drew his money all the time he was away. I think he would be more away than at home.” On 6th June 1873 Mrs Ross took a house in Clyde Street, Anderston, also in Barony parish, where she and the children, and also Ross when he happened to be at home, lived four and a-half years, till December 1877. During the whole period from 1872 to 1878, with slight exception, Ross supplied his wife regularly with allotment-notes for half his pay. After leaving Clyde Street the Ross's went in 1878 to live in Govan parish, and subsequently quarreled and separated. In July 1879 Ross became insane and chargeable to Govan Combination, which now sued for the maintenance of him and his youngest child, the rest being self-maintaining—Muirkirk being sued as his parish of birth, and Barony on the ground that he had acquired a residential settlement there which was not lost at the time of his chargeability

The Sheriff-Substitute ( Erskine Murray), after findings in fact, found, “on the whole case and in law, that the pauper David Ross acquired a residential settlement in the Barony parish which was not lost at the date of chargeability,” and therefore assoilzied Muirkirk and decerned against Barony parish.

He added the following note—“The point whether a sailor can acquire a residential settlement by holding as tenant a house of his own, in which he is only personally present at intervals between his voyages, was finally settled in the affirmative by the whole Court, only two dissenting, in the case of Greig v. Miles and Simpson, July 19, 1867, 5 Macph. 1132. But the present case offers certain differences from that of Greig, which fall to be considered… .

“… If David Ross acquired a residence settlement in Barony, it must be by counting, along with the above four and a-half years, part of the time that he and his family held lodgings at Mrs Devine's. Now, it has never yet apparently been held that a sailor can acquire a settlement by taking lodgings. That point has never arisen. In the only decided cases he was tenant of a house… .

But as regards Mrs Devine's, these lodgings were actually taken by David Ross for himself and his family. Further, it was more than a case of mere lodgings; it was practically a sublet of a room, for which the Ross's themselves supplied bedding. Altogether the habitancy there had a more permanent character, and being initiated and maintained by David Ross himself, the Sheriff-Substitute thinks that on the whole, though undoubtedly the question is a narrow one, it must be dealt with on the same footing as if David Ross had been a regular tenant there.

On this footing, as five years and nine months elapsed between David Ross's taking the room at Mrs Devine's and his leaving Clyde Street, he must, in the opinion of the Sheriff-Substitute, be held to have acquired a residential settlement in the Barony parish.”

Beattie for Barony parish appealed to the Court of Session.

Authorities— Greig v. Miles and Simpson, July 19, 1867, 5 Maoph. 1132; Moncreiff v. Ross, Jan. 5, 1869, 7 Macph. 331; Jackson v. Robertson, Jan. 7, 1874, 1 R. 342.