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Show ! THE READERS COURTROOM J Daddy Gets a Break in Court Bv Will Bernard, LL.B '. Must a Father Pay His Children's Bills After They are 21? i An unwedded schoolteacher, In her middle twenties, lived at home with iher parents. One day she got sick and called a doctor. By the time she was cured, she had run up a sizable 'medical bill. When the doctor failed jto receive payment, he brought suit Just Give TA against the father. He claimed that parents are responsible for such expenses ex-penses as long as the children are I living at home. But the court felt j otherwise and dismissed the action. The judge said parents' liability ends Iwhen the children reach adulthood (and are able to take care of them-; them-; selves. May a Man be Convicted Merely On His Own Confession If There is No Other i Evidence Against Him? . A dancer went to the district at-itorney at-itorney and complained that she had been criminally assaulted by a certain cer-tain young man. The youth was taken into custody, and, after lengthy questioning, he confessed the crime. However, by the time of the trial, the girl withdrew her accusation and the young man repudiated re-pudiated his statement Thus the only evidence the district attorney had left was the defendant's original origi-nal confession. The court promptly ordered the prisoner released. The judge said that a confession alone, without any other evidence, li not Lnough basis for a conviction. Does a City Dweller Have a Right To Keep a Cow in His Yard? A town council passed a "cow ordinance" forbidding residents of certain neighborhoods to keep cows on their premises. The first person per-son arrested under this law was a man who had kept two cows in his back yard for 14 years. In his defense, de-fense, the man insisted that the law was unconstitutional. The court did not dispute the virtues of cow's milk, but held the law valid anyhow. The judge in the case found the man guilty. May a Man be Required to Wear A Jacket in a Dining Room? A railroad passenger was refused admission to the depot dining room, one hot summer day, because he was in shirt-sleeves. He was directed, di-rected, Instead, to the lunch counter. coun-ter. The man was so angry that he took the matter to court, claiming that the "shirt-sleeve rule" was unreasonable especially in hot weather. However, the court overruled over-ruled the passenger's complaint. Some items of clothing, said the judge, "are worn as an adornment to satisfy the conventions of society, rather than -for bodily comfort. To permit the coatless to enter would soon bring those with sleeveless shirts and even the shirtless!" Thoughtfully, the judge added: "Besides, a man's coat is usually the cleanest of his garments! " |