Legal Term: HABITUAL DRUNKARD

Definition: A person given to ebriety or the excessive use of intoxicating drink, who has lost the power or the will, by frequent indulgence, to control his appetite for it.

2. By the laws of Pennsylvania an habitual drunkard is put nearly upon the same footing with a lunatic; he is deprived of his property, and a committee is appointed by the court to take care of his person and estate. Act of June 13, 1836, Pamph. p. 589. Vide 6 Watts Rep. 139; 1 Ashm. R. 71.

3. Habitual drunkenness, by statutory provisions in some of the states, is a sufficient cause for divorce. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 296.

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