Cordson v. State

• Decision Date: 10 November 1906
• Citation: 77 Neb. 416,109 N.W. 764
• Parties: CORDSON v. STATE.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

77 Neb. 416

109 N.W. 764

CORDSON

v.STATE.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Nov. 10, 1906.

Syllabus by the Court.

Where a statute states the elements of a crime, it is generally sufficient, in an information or indictment, to describe such crime in the language of the statute.

Section 204 of the Criminal Code, which declares that a father who shall rudely and licentiously cohabit with his own daughter shall be guilty of incest, and which provides a punishment therefor, is valid and is sufficient in form and substance to create the offense therein described. State v. Lawrence, 27 N. W. 126, 19 Neb. 307, followed.

Error to District Court, Thurston County; Graves, Judge.

Fred Cordson was convicted of crime, and brings error. Affirmed.Hiram Chase, for plaintiff in error.

W. E. Whitcomb, Norris Brown, Atty. Gens., and W. T. Thompson, Deputy Atty. Gen., for the State.

BARNES, J.

Fred Cordson, hereafter called the defendant, was tried by the district court of Thurston county, and found guilty of the crime of incest, as defined by section 204 of the Criminal Code. He was thereupon sentenced to the state penitentiary for a term of seven years. To reverse that judgment, he has brought the case here by petition in error. The record contains no bill of exceptions, and defendant's petition contains but one assignment, to wit: “That the court erred in overruling defendant's motion in arrest of judgment.”

His first contention is that the information on which he was tried does not state facts sufficient to charge him with the commission of any crime. To this it is a sufficient answer to say that the information charges him with the commission of the offense in the language of the statute creating it. It is a well-established rule that to charge a statutory offense it is sufficient if it be charged in the language of the statute. In Bolen v. People, 184 Ill. 338, 56 N. E. 408, it was said: “An indictment charging the accused with the crime of incest in the language of the statute is sufficient, although it fails to allege that the act was feloniously or knowingly committed, since the crime of incest was not a felony at common law and is indictable only by virtue of the statute.” It will be observed in passing that section 204 of our Criminal Code is a literal copy of the statute of Illinois. In Leisenberg v. State, 60 Neb. 628, 84 N. W. 6, it was said: “Where a statute states the elements of a crime, it is generally sufficient, in an information or indictment, to describe such crime in the language of the statute.” To the same effect are State v. Lauver, 26 Neb. 757, 42 N. W. 762,Wagner v. State, 43 Neb. 1, 61 N. W. 85,Chapman v. State, 61 Neb. 888, 86 N. W. 907, and State v. Davis, 70 Mo. 467. So the defendant's first contention must fail.

The defendant's second contention is that the section of the Criminal Code,...