Posted: | December 5, 2012 03:58 PM |
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From: | Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Repeal of Obsolete Juvenile Law |
I am reintroducing Senate Bill 46 of last session, repealing 1862 Act 513. 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 While Act 513 is still technically “on the books,” it has been superseded and should be formally repealed.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 SB130