gage and articles, and require the transportation of passengers from said quarantine station; and shall assign the charge and control of each quarantine station to a competent physician and his necessary assistants or employes, who shall receive such compensation as the Board may fix as the value of their services. All companies or individuals operating or controlling railroads, steamboats, coaches, public and private conveyances, and steamers plying the Ohio river or its tributaries in this state, shall obey the rules and regulations when made and published by the State Board of Health; and any person or owner having charge of any railway train, passenger coach, steamboat, or public or private conveyance, who shall refuse to obey such rules and regulations when made and published by the State Board of Health, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each offense shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than sixty days, or both so fined and imprisoned. (See Chap. 5, Sec. 49, as to power to suppress contagious disease among cattle.)

Sec. 2050. The Board shall hold its meetings semi-annually at such places and times as the majority of the Board may determine by a vote taken at the previous meeting of the Board. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; they shall elect the president of the Board from their own number, and may adopt rules and by-laws subject to the provisions of this law. They are authorized to send either the secretary or a special committee of the Board to consult and co-operate with the National Board of Health, the State Boards of Health of other states, or other sanitary organizations, with reference to location, drainage, water supply, the disposal of excrement, garbage, the heating and ventilation of public and private buildings; and the Board is empowered to co-operate with other State Boards of Health in prosecuting sanitary investigations, and whenever requested shall afford information to any community as to the proper methods of ventilating and heating the public buildings and school-houses of the state.

Sec. 2051. Members sent on duty to be paid. Whenever the State Board of Health shall deem it necessary to send any member or members of said Board to any place in this state, for the purpose of establishing quarantine or to make any sanitary investigation or survey, said Board may allow such member or members so sent a reasonable compensation, to be paid out of the appropriation made by this law.

Sec. 2052. Secretary-appointment and removal of-office and duty. The secretary shall be elected by the members composing the State Board of Health on the first Monday in January, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, and shall hold his office for a term of four years, and until his successor shall have been elected. He shall keep his office at some centrally located place in this state designated by the Board, and shall perform the duties prescribed by this law or required by the Board. He shall keep a record of the transactions of the Board; shall have the custody of all books, papers, documents and other property belonging to the Board which may be deposited in his office; shall, so far as practicable, communicate with other State Boards of Health, and with the local Boards within this state; shall keep on file all reports received from such Boards, and all correspondence of the office appertaining to the business of the Board; he shall, so far.as possible, aid in obtaining contributions to the library of the Board; shall prepare blank forms of returns, and such instructions as may be necessary, and forward them to the local Boards of Health; he shall collect information

concerning vital statistics, knowledge respecting diseases, and all useful information on the subject of hygiene; and through an annual report, and otherwise, as the Board may direct, shall disseminate such information among the people, and shall supply, on demand, to local Boards of Health, reliable vaccine virus for gratuitous vaccination of the poor.

Sec. 2053. Salary of secretary-compensation of members. The secretary shall receive an annual salary, which shall be fixed by the State Board of Health, not exceeding the sum of twelve hundred dollars. The Board shall quarterly certify the amount due him, and on presentation of said certificate, the auditor shall draw his warrant upon the treasurer for the amount. The members of the Board shall receive no compensation for their services, but their traveling and other necessary expenses, while employed on the business of the Board, shall be allowed and paid. The necessary printing of the State Board of Health shall be done in the same way and upon the same conditions as other public printing is done.

Sec. 2054. Annual appropriation-how to expend. The sum of twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, or so much thereof as may be deemed necessary by the State Board of Health, is hereby appropriated to pay the salary of the secretary, meet the contingent expenses of the office of secretary, and the expenses of the Board, which shall not exceed the sum here appropriated. Said expenses shall be certified and paid in the same manner as the salary of the secretary.

Sec. 2055. County Boards-appointment-term of office-powers and duties-compensation-appointment of health officer. It shall be the duty of the State Board to appoint three or more intelligent and discreet citizens residing in each county of this state, who shall constitute a local Board, shall hold their office for a term of two years from the date of their appointment; and such local Boards are empowered, and it shall be their duty, to inaugurate and execute, and to require the heads of families and other persons to execute such sanitary regulations as the local Board may consider expedient to prevent the outbreak and spread of cholera, small-pox, yellow fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and other epidemic diseases; *and to this end may bring the infected popula

*Superior Court of Kentucky, January Term, June 1, 1885-Nelson County Court, Appellant, v. The Town of Bardstown, Appellee-Appeal from Nelson Circuit Court.

The court, being sufficiently advised, delivered the following opinion herein:

There was no conflict in the evidence showing that in the early summer of 1883 the small-pox prevailed in Bardstown to such an extent as to create apprehension that it would spread over the county, and to require, in the opinion of the Local Board of Health, prompt action to restrain it. That Board directed the trustees of the town to erect a pesthouse, which was done. Ground was leased, necessary arrangements made and attendants employed. Those only were taken there and cared for who, being dependent on daily wages for daily bread, were left without any means of support when stricken down. Most of them lived in the town limits, some of them outside. Among them only two had been theretofore provided for by the county as paupers. An ordinance of June 20th, amended June 22d, of a preventive character, required a general vaccination at the cost of the town, for those who were noor; an ordinance of June 25th provided for a lease of ground for a pesthouse, erection of suitable buildings, employment of attendants, and levied an

tion under prompt and proper treatment during premonitory or other stages of disease; and they are empowered to go upon and inspect any premises which they may believe are in an unclean or infectious condition; and said Boards are authorized and shall have power to enforce the rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Health; and any person who shall fail or refuse, after written notice from the local Board or State Board, to observe or obey the written request, shall be fined not less than ten and not more than one hundred dollars for each day he so fails or neglects. And it shall be the duty of physicians practicing their profession in any county in which a local Board is organized, to report all or any of the above mentioned diseases under their special treatment to such local Board; and it shall likewise be the duty of heads of families to report any of said diseases, when known by them to exist in their respective families, to such local Board, or to some member thereof, within twenty-four hours from his or her knowledge of the existence of such disease; and such local Board shall make report to the State Board of Health at least once in every three months-first, of the character of the infectious and epidemic diseases prevailing in their county; second, the number reported as afflicted with such disease; third, the action taken by such Board in arresting the progress of such additional tax to meet the "heavy outlay of money" caused by the outbreak of small-pox; and on the same day a committee was appointed to ask the county judge "to make such appropriations as may be proper, to be paid by the county treasurer, to aid the trustees of Bardstown in maintaining the small-pox hospital, as all persons therein kept are citizens of Nelson, and some are residents of the county outside of said town." September 15th another committee was appointed to apply to the county court "to make appropriations toward paying the expenses incurred by the town in taking care of small-pox patients." The county levy court met in October, and the order says: "This day came the town of Bardstown and presented a claim for $962.24, for taking care of small-pox patients, and suppressing said disease epidemic in Bardstown and vicinity, during the past summer, and asked that the county do pay one-half of said claim ($481.12); and thereupon the court allowed said town $250 on said claim, to which said town excepted, and prayed an appeal to the Nelson Circuit Court, which is granted."

Afterward, on the same day, again came the town of Bardstown, and motioned the court to pay the full amount of said claim, to wit, $962.24; and thereupon the court "refused to take any action." From this order an appeal was prosecuted to the circuit court.

The county judge, when applied to by the committee, declined to make any appropriation, supposing he had no right to do so. Nothing done by the trustees was done at the instance or suggestion of any county official. On this evidence the circuit court ordered the jury to find a verdict in favor of the town for $796.24, subject to a credit of $250, allowed by the county court, the town having dismissed all of its demand but that much.

This direction can be sustained only on the assumption that the county is legally bound to reimburse any one for money expended by him in caring for the destitute, though the expenditure was not authorized by any county officer; or that it is bound to pay whatever may be properly expended by any one acting under the direction of the Local Board of Health, to prevent the spread of small-pox and to care for the destitute stricken by it. For if no liability existed, it can not be maintained that the act of allowing $250 tends in any degree to create it. In

epidemics, and the visible effects of such action, and shall also make special reports when they deem it expedient, or when required by the State Board; and the local Board shall receive such compensation for such services as the county court in which the local Board is established shall, in their discretion, determine. The local Board shall appoint a competent physician, who shall be the health officer of the county, and shall hold his office for two years, and until his successor is appointed.

Section 2056. Quarantine established by local Boards-notice to State Board and duty of-penalty against carrier violating rules. In the counties bordering the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and on the state lines separating Kentucky from the states of West Virginia and Tennessee, the local Boards of Health are empowered to declare and maintain quarantine in said county or counties, or in any particular place or places therein against the introduction of any contagious or infectious diseases prevailing in any other state or county. Provided, that so soon as such quarantine is established, the local Board declaring the same, through its presiding or chief officer, shall, in writing, notify the State Board of Health of such quarantine, and the extent thereof; and thereupon the State Board of Health, in the exercise of its supervisory power over local Boards, shall, as early as practicable, by their sanitary or executive committee, ascertain the necessity of such quarantine, and shall Rodman v. La Rue County, 3 Bush, 145, the county judge, and in Marion County v. Averitt, 1 Ky. Law Rep. 267, a justice of the peace, had procured the service to be rendered for the county, and a partial allowance by the court was held to be a recognition of the professed agency, and leaves only the amount to be considered. Here there was no professed agent; no county official suggested the expenditure, and it is obvious that the town did not expend any of the money upon the assumption even that it was acting for and on account of the county, or that it was the county's duty to do that which it was providing for, or that it would be paid by the county. No application to the county court or to any county officer was made at the outset; the Board of Health ordered the trustees to act, and doubtless assuming it was their duty as trustees to do, they directed the expense to be incurred. They then asked the county judge for such contribution to aid the town as he thought proper; and they asked the county court to allow them only half they had expended up to this time. It is evident that the town asked aid on strong moral ground, and did not assert a legal demand.

Nevertheless, if such demand existed, it was not lost by what was done. Section 2 of Chapter 86 of the General Statutes provides: "It shall be the duty of the county courts to provide for the support of the paupers of their respective counties." Section 1, Article XVI, of Chapter 28, confers jurisdiction on county courts to make provisions for the maintenance of the poor.

The Act of April 28, 1880, amending the Act of March 16, 1878, establishing a Board of Health, provides for Local Boards of Health, and declares that they "are empowered, and it shall be their duty to inaugurate and execute, and require the heads of families to execute, such sanitary regulations as the Local Board may consider expedient to prevent the outbreak and spread of cholera, small-pox, yellow fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria and other epidemic diseases; and to this end may bring the infected population under prompt and proper treatment during premonitory or other stages of disease; and they are empowered to go upon and inspect any premises which they may believe are in an unclean or infectious condition; and said Boards are authorized to enforce the

either approve of said quarantine, and enforce the same, or declare the same raised. The State Board of Health and its agents, employes, or the local Boards of Health, acting under the direction and regulations of the State Board, when they have reasonable ground to believe that any packet or other steamboat, barge, or other water craft navigating the Mississippi or Ohio rivers, or any of their tributaries, is infected with any epidemic or infectious disease, are empowered to prevent the landing of such craft at any point or places on the Kentucky shore; and they are also empowered, when they have reasonable grounds to believe any railway train, coach, or other vehicle contains persons or articles infected with epidemic or infectious diseases, to detain at any station or point on such railway or road, such train, coach, or vehicle for a time sufficient to disinfect or purify the same: Provided, quarantine has been established at such station or place by action of said Boards; and any railway conductor, driver or person in charge of any coach or vehicle who shall wilfully avoid or prevent the inspection or purification of the coaches or vehicles under his charge or control shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and fined not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars, and imprisoned not less than ten nor more than sixty days, or both so fined or imprisoned.

Sec. 2057. Boards may examine into causes of disease-notice to rules and regulations adopted by the State Board of Health." The Local Board is to be paid by the county court.

No provision is made as to the means by which the Board may enforce the execution of sanitary regulations, or "bring the infected population under prompt and proper treatment." It provides no fund to pay the expense involved in the discharge of the duty imposed, and it does not declare upon whose credit the Board shall act.

Prior to this act it rested with the county court, or county judge in vacation (General Statutes, Chapter 86, Section 10), to say what persons were paupers, and as such entitled to the public aid; and for matters of mere maintenance, that is still the law. However urgent may have been the personal need, whether for shelter, bread or medicine, the public charity came through these agents only, and no one else could create a debt against the county by giving them necessary help.

While the act in question does not create a new or additional duty in the county, it does create a new agent in regard to matters of general health, and makes its decision as to what ought to be done conclusive on the county, so far as to charge it with the expenses incurred in caring for the indigent, afflicted with any of the contagious or infectious diseases referred to by the statute. Any other interpretation makes the Board merely an advisory body, incapable of doing those things which the statute declares it has power to do, and which its duty requires it to do.

It is in discharge of the ordinary social duty to care for the helpless, but it goes further. If the poor man is neglected he may starve or freeze, but the calamity is personal, and his grave hides it; but if, having an infectious disease, which poisons the air, he is left where he lies, the entire community is menaced. In such case the statute confers on the Board the power to do what it may deem necessary to prevent the spread of the disease. It has no fund given it out of which to pay. It is the duty of the county to provide for the poor, and the Board is the constituted agent to see that provision is made in such cases. On its order the town did what it required, and having, under the order of the proper agent, done what the law gave the agent power to have done, the county was properly held liable. The judgment is affirmed.