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HABITUAL DRUNKARD Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

A person given to ebriety or the excessive use of intoxicatingdrink, who has lost the i>ower or the will, by frequent indulgence, to controlhis appetite for it Ludwick v. Com., 18 Pa. 174; Gourlay v. Gourlay, 16 It. I. 705, .19Atl. 142; Miskey’s Appeal, 107 Pa. 020; Richards v. Richards, 19 111. App. 407; Mc- Beev. McP.ee, 22 Or. 329, 29 Pac. 887, 29 Am. St. Rep. 013.One who has the habit of indulging in intoxicating liquors so firmly fixed that hebecomes intoxicated as often as the temptation is presented by his being in the vicinitywhere liquors are sold is an “habitual drunkard,” within the. meaning of the divorcq law.Magahay v. Magahay, 35 Mich. 210.In England, it is defined bv the habitual drunkards’ act, 1879. (42 & 43 Vict. c. 19.)which authorizes confinement in a retreat, upon the party’s own application, as “aperson who, not being amenable to any jurisdiction in lunacy, is, notwithstanding, byreason of habitual intemperate drinking of intoxicating liquor, at times dangerous tohimself, or herself, or others. or incapable of managing himself or herself, or his or heraffairs.”

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