USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 42
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5. If any person die leaving several children, or leaving one child, and the issue of one or more other children, and any such surviving child shall die under age, and not having been married, all the estate that came to the deceased child, by inheritance from such deceased parent, shall descend in equal shares to the other children of the same parent, and to the issue of any such other children who shall have died, by right of representation.
6. If, at the death of such child, who shall die under age, and not having been married, all the other children of his said parent shall also be dead, and any of them shall have left issue, the estate that came to said child by inheritance from his said parent, shall descend to all the issue of the other children of the same parent ; and if all the said issue are in the same degree of kindred to said child, they shall share the said estate equally ; otherwise they shall take according to the right of representation.
7. If the intestate shall have no widow nor kindred, his estate shall escheat to the State, and be added to the capital of the school fund.
SEC. 2271. When the owner of any homestead shall die, not having lawfully devised the e, such homestead shall descend free of all judgments and claims against such deceased er or his estate, except mortgages lawfully executed thereon, and laborers' and mechanics' 8, in the manner following :
1. If he shall have no lawful issue, to his widow.
2. If he shall leave a widow and issue, to his widow during her widowhood, and, upon her marriage or death, to his heirs, according to the next preceding section.
3. If he shall leave issue and no widow, to such issue, according to the preceding section.
4. If he shall leave no issue or widow, such homestead shall descend under the next pre- ceding section, subject to lawful liens thereon.
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OF WILLS.
SEC. 2277. Every person of full age, and any married woman of the age of eighteen years and upward, being of sound mind, seized in his or her own right of any lands, or of any right thereto, or entitled to any interest therein, descendible to his or her heirs, may devise and dis- pose of the same by last will and testament in writing; and all such estate not disposed of by will, shall descend as the estate of an intestate, being chargeable, in both cases, with the pay- ment of all his debts or her debts, except as provided in the next preceding chapter, and in sec- tion twenty-two hundred and eighty.
SEC. 2278. Every devise of land in any will shall be construed to convey all the estate of the devisor therein, which he could lawfully devise, unless it shall clearly appear by the will that the devisor intended to convey a less estate.
SEC. 2279. Any estate, right or interest in lands acquired by the testator, after the making of his will, shall pass thereby in like manner as if possessed at the time of making the will, if such shall manifestly appear, by the will, to have been the intention of the testator.
SEC. 2280. When any homestead shall have been disposed of by the last will and testa- ment of the owner thereof, the devisee shall take the same, free of all judgments and claims against the testator or his estate, except mortgages lawfully executed thereon, and laborers' and mechanics' liens.
SEC. 2281. Every person of full age, and every married woman of the age of eighteen years and upward, being of sound mind, may, by last will and testament in writing, bequeath and dispose of all his or her personal estate remaining at his or her decease, and all his or her rights thereto and interest therein, subject to the payment of debts ; and all such estate not dis- posed of by the will shall be administered as intestate estate.
SEC. 2284. All beneficial devises, legacies and gifts whatsoever, made or given in any will to a subscribing witness thereto, shall be wholly void, unless there be two other competent sub- scribing witnesses to the same ; but a mere charge on the lands of the devisor for the payment of debts, shall not prevent his creditors from being competent witnesses to his will.
SEC. 2285. But if such witness, to whom any beneficial devise may have been made or given, would have been entitled to any share of the estate of the testator, in case the will was not established, then so much of the share that would have descended or been distributed to such witness as will not exceed the devise or bequest made to him in the will, shall be saved to him, and he may recover the same of the devisees or legatees named in the will, in proportion to and out of the parts devised or bequeathed to them.
SEC. 2286. When any child shall be born, after the making of his parent's will, and no provision shall be made therein for him, such child shall have the same share in the estate of the testator as if he had died intestate; and the share of such child shall be assigned to him, as pro- vided by law, in case of intestate estates, unless it shall be apparent from the will that it was the intention of the testator that no provision should be made for such child.
SEC. 2290. No will, or any part thereof, shall be revoked, unless by burning, tearing, can- celing or obliterating the same, with the intention of revoking it, by the testator, or by some person in his presence, and by his direction, or by some other will or codicil in writing, executed as prescribed in this chapter, or by some other writing, signed, attested and subscribed in the manner provided in this chapter, for the execution of a will; excepting, only, that nothing con- tained in this section shall prevent the revocation implied by law, from subsequent changes in the condition or circumstances of the testator. The power to make a will implies the power to revoke the same.
OF THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN.
SEC. 4021. Any inhabitant of this State may petition the County Court, in the county of his residence, for leave to adopt a child not his own by birth; but no such petition made by a married person shall be granted, unless the husband or wife of the petitioner shall join therein
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nor shall any such petition be granted, unless the child, if of the age of fourteen years, or more shall consent thereto in writing, in the presence of the court.
SEC. 4022. No such adoption shall be made, without the written consent of the living parents of such child, unless the court shall find that one of the parents has abandoned the child, or gone to parts unknown, when such consent may be given by the parent, if any, having the care of the child. In case where neither of the parents is living, or if living, have abandoned the child, such consent may be given by the guardian of such child, if any ; if such child has no guardian, such consent may be given by any of the next of kin of such child, residing in this State, or, in the discretion of the court, by some suitable person to be appointed by the court.
2. In case of a child not born in lawful wedlock, such consent may be given by the mother, if she is living, and has not abandoned such child.
SEC. 4023. If upon such petition and consent, as herein provided, the County Court shall be satisfied of the identity and the relations of the persons, and that the petitioners are of suffi- cient ability to bring up, and furnish suitable nurture and education for the child, having refer- ence to the degree and condition of its parents, and that it is proper that such adoption shall take effect, such court shall make an order, reciting said facts that, from and after the date thereof, such child shall be deemed, to all legal intents and purposes, the child of the petitioners ; and by such order the name of such child may be changed to that of the parents by adoption.
SEC. 4024. A child so adopted, shall be deemed for the purposes of inheritance and succes- sion by such child, custody of the person and right of obedience by such parents by adoption, and all other legal consequences and incidents of the natural relation of parents and children, the same to all intents and purposes as if such child had been born in lawful wedlock of such parents by adoption, excepting that such child shall not be capable of taking property expressly limited to the heirs of the body of such parents.
The natural parents of such child shall be deprived, by such order of adoption, of all legal rights whatsoever, respecting such child, and such child shall be freed from all legal obligations of maintenance and obedience to such natural parents.
INTEREST.
The legal rate of interest is 7 per cent. A higher rate of interest, not exceeding 10 per cent, may be contracted for, but the same must be clearly expressed in writing. If a higher rate than 10 per cent is collected or paid, the party so paying may, by himself or his legal rep- resentative, recover treble the amount so paid above the 10 per cent, if the action is brought within one year, and all bills, notes, or other contracts whatsoever, whereby a higher rate than 10 per cent is secured, shall be liable for the principal sum, but no interest shall be recovered.
JURISDICTION OF COURTS.
The Circuit Courts have general jurisdiction over all civil and criminal actions within their respective circuits, subject to a re-examination by the Supreme Court.
The County Courts shall have jurisdiction over the probate matters in their respective counties, and shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction in the counties of Brown, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee and Winnebago in all cases of appeals from Justices of the Peace in civil actions, and all cases commenced in Justices' Courts therein, there shall be an answer put in, showing that the title of lands will come in question.
And such Courts shall have concurrent and equal jurisdiction in all civil actions and pro- ceedings with the Circuit Courts of said counties to the following extent respectively :
The County Court of Brown, when the value of the property in controversy, after deduct- ing all payments and set-offs, shall not exceed five thousand dollars.
The County Court of Dodge County, when such value shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
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The County Court of Fond du Lac, when such value shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars.
The County Court of Milwaukee, when such value does not exceed five million dollars. The County of Winnebago, when such value does not exceed twenty thousand dollars.
They shall have jurisdiction of all actions for foreclosure where the value does not exceed the above amounts, and of all actions for divorce or for affirmation or annullment of marriage contract.
Justices of the Peace have jurisdiction in civil matters where two hundred dollars or less are involved.
The criminal jurisdiction of Justices extends to all cases where the fine is one hundred dol- lars, or the imprisonment six months.
JURORS.
All persons who are citizens of the United States, and qualified electors of the State shall be liable to be drawn as jurors, except as provided as follows :
The following persons shall be exempt from serving as jurors :
All officers of the United States, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Superintendent and Treasurer ; all Judges, Clerks of Courts or Record ; all county officers, Constables, attorneys and counselors at law, ministers of the Gospel of any religious society, practicing physicians, surgeons, dentists, and the President, professors and instructors of the University and their assistants, and of the several colleges and incorporated academies ; all teachers of the State Normal Schools, one teacher in each common school, the officers and employes of the several State institutions, one miller in each grist-mill, one ferry- man at each licensed ferry, one dispensing druggist in each prescription drug-store, all telegraph operators and superintendents, conductors, engineers, firemen, collectors and station-agents of any railroad or canal, while in actual employment as such ; all officers of fire departments, and all active members of fire companies organized according to law ; all persons more than sixty years of age, and all persons of unsound mind or subject to any bodily infirmity amounting to disability ; all persons who have been convicted of any infamous crime, and all persons who have served at any regular term of the Circuit Court as a grand or petit juror within one year, except he shall be summoned on a special venire or as a talesman.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT.
Capital punishment has been abolished in this State.
WOLF SCALPS.
A bounty of five dollars is paid for each wolf scalp.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Whenever either of the articles, as commodities hereafter mentioned, shall be sold by the bushel, and no special agreement as to measure or weight thereof shall be made by the parties. the measure shall be ascertained by weight, and shall be computed as follows:
Sixty pounds for a bushel of wheat, clover seed, potatoes or beans.
Fifty pounds for a bushel of green apples ; fifty-six pounds for a bushel of rutabagas, flax. secd, rye or Indian corn shelled, and seventy pounds of Indian corn unshelled; fifty pounds fol a bushel of rape seed, buckwheat, beets, carrots or onions ; forty-eight pounds for a bushel barley ; forty-five pounds for a bushel of timothy seed ; forty-four pounds for a bushel of pare- nips ; forty-two pounds for a bushel of common flat turnips ; thirty-two pounds for a bushel oats ; and twenty-eight pounds for a bushel of dried apples or dried peaches.
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ABSTRACT OF LAWS.
No person shall sell, buy or receive in store any grain at any weight or measure per bushel other than the standard weight or measure per bushel fixed by law ; and, for any violation, the offender shall forfeit not less than five nor more than fifty dollars.
DAMAGES FOR TRESPASS.
Any person who shall willfully, maliciously or wantonly destroy, remove, throw down or injure any fence, hedge or wall inclosing any orchard, pasture, meadow, garden, or any field whatever on land belonging to or lawfully occupied by another, or open and leave open, throw down, injure, remove or destroy any gate or bars in such fence, hedge or wall, or cut down, root up, sever, injure, destroy or carry away when severed, any fruit, shade, ornamental or other tree, or any shrub, root, plant, fruit, flower, grain or other vegetable production, or dig up, sever or carry away any mineral, earth or stone, or tear down, mutilate, deface or injure any building, sign-board, fence or railing, or sever and carry away any part thereof, standing or being upon the land of another or held in trust, or who shall willfully, maliciously or wantonly cut down, root up, injure, destroy or remove or carry away any fruit, ornamental or other tree, or any shrub, fruit, flower, vase or statue, arbor, or any ornamental structure, standing or being in any street or public ground in any city or village, in any private inclosure or highway, or destroy, remove, mutilate or injure any milestone or board, or any guide-post or board erected in any highway or public way, or on any turnpike, plank-road or railroad, or deface or obliterate any device or inscrip- tion thereon, or cut down, break down, remove, mutilate or injure any monument erected or tree marked for the purpose of designating the boundaries of any town or tract of land or subdivision thereof, or deface or obliterate any figures, letters, device or inscription thereon, made for such purpose, or break, remove, destroy or injure any post, guard, railing or lamp-post or lamp thereon, erected or being on any bridge, street, sidewalk, alley, court, passage, park, public ground, highway, turnpike, plank or rail road, or extinguish or break any lamp on any such lamp-post, or tear, deface, mutilate or injure any book, map, pamphlet, chart, picture or other property belonging to any public library, or take and carry away the same with intent to con- vert to his own use, or shall injure or destroy any personal property of another, shall be pun- ished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than six months, or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.
Any person who shall willfully, maliciously or wantonly kill, maim, mutilate, disfigure or injure any horse, mule, cattle, sheep or other domestic animal of another, or administer poison to such animal, or expose any poison, with intent that the same may be taken or swallowed by such animal; and any person who shall overdrive, overwork, overload, maim, wound, torture, torment, cruelly beat or kill any such animal belonging to himself or another, or being the owner or having the care or charge thereof, shall fail to provide necessary food, water or shelter for any such animal, or who shall turn out and abandon, without proper care and protection, or cruelly work any such animal when old, diseased, disabled or unfit for work, or shall carry or confine any live animal, fowl or bird, in a cruel or inhuman manner, or who shall cause, procure or abet any cruelty above mentioned, or the fighting or baiting of bulls, dogs or cocks, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not more than six months or by fine not exceeding one hun- dred dollars.
ESTRAYS.
No stray, except horses and mules, shall be taken up by any person not a resident of the town in which it is found; nor unless it is found upon land owned or occupied by him. Every finder for a stray must notify the owner, if he is known, within seven days, and request him to pay all reasonable charges and take the stray away. If the owner is not known, he must file a notice with the Town Clerk within ten days, who shall transmit a copy thereof to the County Clerk.
If the stray is not worth five dollars, the finder shall post a copy of such notice in two pub- lic places in such town ; if it exceed five dollars in value, he shall publish such notice four suc-
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cessive weeks either in some newspaper published in the county or in an adjoining county, if one be published nearer his residence than any published in his county ; but if no newspaper is pub- lished within twenty miles of his residence, then he must post such notice in three public places in his county. Such notice shall describe the stray by giving its marks, natural or artificial, as near as possible, the name and residence of the finder, specifying the section and town, and the time when such stray was taken up. For neglect to post up or publish as required, the finder shall be liable to double the amount of damages sustained by the owner. For neglect to post or publish for one year, the finder shall be liable for its full value, to be recovered in the name of the town, and the amount recovered to be added to the school fund of such town.
The finder shall, within one month, cause the stray to be appraised by a Justice of the Peace and a certificate of such appraisal signed by such Justice filed in the Town Clerk's office. The finder shall pay the Justice fifty cents for such certificate, and ten cents per mile for each mile necessarily traveled to make the same.
The owner may have the same restored to him any time within one year after such notice is filed in the town Clerk's office, by proving that the stray belongs to him, and paying all lawful charges incurred in relation to the same .. If the owner and finder cannot agree as to the charges. either party, on notice to the other, may apply to a Justice of such town to settle the same, who, for that purpose, may examine witnesses upon oath, and the amount found due, with the costs, shall be a lien upon such stray. If no owner applies for the return of such stray, as pro- vided, and the same is not worth more than ten dollars, it shall become the absolute property of such finder ; but if the appraisal shall exceed ten dollars, it shall be sold at public auction by the Sheriff or any Constable of the county, on the request of the finder, and he shall be entitled to one-half the proceeds, and the other half shall be paid to the Treasurer of the town within ten days. If the finder shall neglect or refuse to cause such sale, he shall pay to the town the value of such stray, to be recovered by the town.
If any person, without the consent of the owner, shall take away such stray, without first paying the lawful charges, shall be liable to the finder for the value of such stray. If the finder shall neglect to do any act prescribed above, he shall be precluded from acquiring any right in such stray, and from receiving any charges or expenses relative thereto.
FENCES.
The Overseers of Highways in their respective towns, the Aldermen of cities in their respective wards, and the Trustees of villages in their respective villages, shall be Fence Viewers. and in towns having less than three road districts, the Supervisors shall be Fence Viewers.
All fences four and a half feet high, and in good repair, consisting of rails, timber, boards or stone walls, or any combination thereof, and all brooks, rivers, ponds, creeks, ditches and hedges or other things which shall be considered equivalent thereto, in the judgment of the Fence Viewers, within whose jurisdiction the same may be, shall be deemed legal and sufficient fences. Every partition of a fence, or line upon which a fence is to be built, made by the owners of the adjoining lands, in writing, sealed and witnessed by two witnesses, or by Fence Viewers in writing, under their hands, after being recorded in the Town Clerk's office, shall oblige such owners and their heirs, as long as they remain owners, and after parting with the ownership, until a new partition is made. A division of a partition fence, or line upon which a partition fence between adjoining lands shall be built, may be made by Fence Viewers in the following cases :
1. When any owner of uninclosed lands shall desire to inclose the same, he may have the line between his land and the adjoining land of any other person divided, and the portion upon which the respective owners shall erect their share of the partition fence assigned, whether such adjoining land be inclosed or not.
2. When any lands belonging to different persons in severalty, shall have been occupied in common, or without a partition fence between them, and one of the occupants shall be desirous
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to occupy his part in severalty, and the others shall refuse or neglect, on demand, to divide with him the line where the fence ought to be built, or to build a sufficient fence on his part of the line, when divided, the occupant desiring it may have the same divided, and the share of each assigned.
3. When any controversy shall arise about the right of the respective occupants in parti- tion fences, or their obligations to maintain the same, either party may have the line divided, and the share of each assigned.
In either case, application may be made to two or more Fence Viewers of the town where the lands lie, who shall give reasonable notice in writing to each party, and they shall in writing under their hands, divide the partition fence or line, and assign to each owner or occupant his share thereof, and in the second and third cases direct within what time each party shall build or repair his share of the fence, having regard to the season of the year, and shall file such deci- sion in the Town Clerk's office. If either party shall neglect or refuse to build or repair within the time so assigned, his part of the fence, the other may, after having completed his own part, build or repair such part, and recover double the expense thereof.
Where the whole or a greater share than belongs to him has been built by one of the occu- pants, before complaint to the Fence Viewers, the other shall be obliged to pay for his share of such fence.
Where uninclosed land is afterward inclosed, the owner shall pay for one-half the partition fence upon the line between him and any other owner or occupant.
If any person shall determine not to keep inclosed any part of his land adjoining any par- tition fence, and shall give six months' notice of such determination to all adjoining occupants, he shall not be required to maintain any part of such fence during the time his lands shall lie open.
LANDLORD AND TENANT.
The common law right to destrain for rent, is abolished.
The atonement of a tenant to a stranger shall be absolutely void, and shall not in anywise effect the possession of his landlord, unless it be made
1. With the consent of the landlord; or
2. Pursuant to, or in consequence of, a judgment or order of a court of competent juris- diction; or
3. To a purchaser upon a judicial sale, who shall have acquired title to the lands by a conveyance thereof, after the period for redemption, if any, has expired. A tenancy, a will or sufferance may be determined by the landlord, giving one month's notice to quit, or the tenant giving one month's notice of his intention to quit, or if the terms of payment are for less than a month, notice equal to the time between payments, or for non-payment of rent, fourteen days' notice to quit. Such notice shall be served by delivering the same to such tenant, or to some person of proper age residing on the premises, or if no such person can be found, by affixing the same in a conspicuous part of the premises, where it may be conveniently read, and, at the expi- ration of the time required after the service of such notice, the landlord may re-enter, or main- tain an action for the recovery of the possession thereof, or proceed in the manner prescribed by law to remove such tenant without further or other notice to quit. If, after giving notice of deter- mination to quit, the tenant neglects or refuses to deliver up the premises, he shall be liable to double the rent agreed upon, to be collected the same as single rent.
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