Bishop v. State
| Decision Date | 30 October 1903 |
| Citation | 118 Ga. 799,45 S.E. 614 |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
| Parties | BISHOP. v. STATE. |
STATUTORY FELONY — ACCESSORIES — EMBEZZLEMENT—CONSPIRACY—JOINDER OF PARTIES—INDICTMENT.
1. Every statutory felony, when incorporated in the body of the criminal law, becomes subject to existing regulations as to accessories, indictment, evidence, and procedure.
2. While certain crimes can only be committed by a particular class of the community, others not of the class may be principals in the second degree, or accessories thereto, since one may assist in a crime which he cannot commit.
3. Although, under Pen. Code 1895, § 188, only officers or employes of a corporation can be principals in the first degree to the crime of embezzlement, others disconnected with the company may be guilty as principals in the second degree, or as accessories before or after the fact.
4. While the common-law offense of conspiracy has not been incorporated in the Penal Code, conspiring with another to commit an offense may be an element in the guilt of one charged as accessory before the fact.
5. Principals in the first and second degree and accessories before and after the fact may all be joined in the same count.
v5. See Indictment and Information, vol. 27, Cent. Dig. 333.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; L. S. Roan, Judge.
T. L. Bishop was convicted of embezzlement, and brings error. Affirmed.
Westmoreland Bros, Arnold & Arnold, J. D. Kilpatrick, J. A. Anderson, Mayson & Hill, and F. M. O'Bryan, for plaintiff in error.
C. D. Hill, Sol. Gen., for the State.
The only point argued in the brief is that one cannot be accessory where he could not have been the principal; that the offense defined in Pen. Code 1895, 8 188, can only be committed by officers or employes of a corporation, and, as Bishop was not connected with the bank, it was legally impossible for him to be guilty of embezzlement, or of conspiring, aiding, and abetting Matthews, the president, in secreting, taking, and carrying away the property alleged to have been misappropriated.
There are many offenses which can only be committed by particular classes of the community—bigamy by married persons; rape, seduction, and bastardy by males; larceny after trust by bailees; embezzlement by officers; and many others set out in the Penal Code of 1895. But because one cannot be a principal, it by no means follows that he cannot be punished as an abettor. One can assist in that which he cannot do. Pen. Code 1895, §§ 42, 44, 45. Upon the adoption of a statute defining a new felony, it becomes incorporated in the body of the criminal law, and draws to itself all the general rules applicable to indictment, evidence, and procedure incident to other crimes of the same grade; and, without being mentioned in the act, the regulations applicable to accessories instantly attach. Id. § 31. Thus an unmarried man can be convicted as principal in the second degree of bigamy, a woman may be punished for aiding one attempting rape, and those not named may be convicted as accessories in the statutory offense of "Mother concealing death of illegitimate child, " or "Postmaster making false returns." Bog-gus v. State, 34 Ga. 275; Lord Audley's Case, 1 State Trials; State v. Jones, 83 N. C. 605, 35 Am. Rep. 586; U. S. v. Snyder (C. 0.) 14 Fed. 554; U. S. v. Bayer, 4 Dill. 407, Fed. Cas. No. 14, 547; State v. Sprague, 4 R. I. 257.
In Rex v. Potts, 1 Russell &...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State ex rel. Brown v. Thompson
...Law, Section 90; People v. Wallin, 32 Cal.2d 803, 197 P.2d 734; State v. Burns, 82 Conn. 213, 72 A. 1083, 16 Ann.Cas. 465; Bishop v. State, 118 Ga. 799, 45 S.E. 614; State v. Elliott, 61 Kan. 518, 59 P. 1047; State v. Nahoum, 172 La. 83, 133 So. 370; People v. McKane, 143 N.Y 455, 38 N.E. 9......
-
Commonwealth v. Mannos
... ... alleged in each count was money, the exact amount of which ... the Commonwealth was unable to state; and also stated as to ... each gratuity the name of the person who accepted it and the ... place where it was accepted; and motions for further ... State, 37 Ariz. 273. People v. Zimmer, 23 Cal.App. (2d) ... 581. State v. Burns, 82 Conn. 213. Boggus v ... State, 34 Ga. 275. Bishop v. State, 118 Ga ... 799. Commonwealth v. Carter, 94 Ky. 527. State v ... Nahoum, 172 La. 83. Strang v. People, 24 Mich. 1 ... Mills v ... ...
-
Harris v. State
...is full, complete, sound and reflects a keen understanding of the subject on the part of the trial judge. The cases of Bishop v. State, 118 Ga. 799, 45 S.E. 614, and Annis v. State, 85 Ga.App. 188, 68 S.E.2d 473, cited by the movant in support of this ground correctly hold that there is no ......
-
Garrett v. State
...1105 (1930); England v. State, 23 Ala.App. 361, 125 So. 687 (1930). We find this rule is also applicable in Georgia. In Bishop v. State, 118 Ga. 799, 45 S.E. 614 (1903), we held that, although only officers or employees could be principals in the first degree to embezzlement, other unrelate......