Posted: | January 19, 2017 04:20 PM |
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From: | Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Repeal of Obsolete Juvenile Law |
I will be reintroducing Senate Bill 167 of last session, repealing Act 513 of 1862. The law purports to give any judge, mayor, alderman or justice of the peace in Philadelphia the authority to commit “orphan, destitute, abandoned or vagrant children” to one of two named orphanages. While Act 513 is still technically “on the books,” it has been superseded and should be formally repealed. Currently, mayors, aldermen and magisterial district judges (“justices of the peace”) do not have the authority to place children, and judges may only do so in accordance with the Juvenile Act and/or the Adoption Act. Of the two orphanages mentioned in Act 513, one closed over a century ago and the other currently serves a different purpose. This bill is part of an effort to clear the books of obsolete and ineffective laws, and it is not anticipated that its repeal will have any substantive impact whatsoever. The Senate passed this legislation during a prior session. |
Introduced as SB848