Cox v. People of State
| Citation | 82 Ill. 191,1876 WL 10168 |
| Parties | CHARLES COXv.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS |
| Decision Date | 30 June 1876 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Illinois |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
WRIT OF ERROR to the Circuit Court of St. Clair county; the Hon. WILLIAM H. SNYDER, Judge, presiding.
Mr. MARSHALL W. WEIR, for the plaintiff in error.
Mr. CHARLES P. KNISPEL, and Mr. R. A. HALBERT, for the People.
The indictment contains two counts. In the first, the defendant is charged with incest; and, in the second, he is charged with an assault with intent to commit incest. The verdict of the jury is: “We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of an attempt to commit incest with Caroline Rider, under the first count of the indictment, and assess his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of two years.”
The crime of incest is punishable, if it be by a father cohabiting with his daughter, by confinement in the penitentiary, for any term not exceeding twenty years; and if it be by cohabiting between other persons, within the degrees of consanguinity within which marriages are declared by law to be incestuous and void, by confinement in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten years. R. L. 1874, p. 376, §§ 156, 157.
And, by another section of the Criminal Code, “whoever attempts to commit any offense prohibited by law, and does any act towards it, but fails, or is intercepted or prevented in its execution, where no express provision is made by law for the punishment of such attempt, shall be punished, where the offense thus attempted is a felony, by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than five years; in all other cases, by fine not exceeding $300, or by confinement in the county jail not exceeding six months.” R. L. 1874, p. 393, § 273.
It is not claimed, nor is there any express provision made by the Criminal Code for the punishment of an attempt to commit incest, so that the defendant's case is brought within this section, if he is liable at all. The evidence shows, simply, an unsuccessful solicitation to commit the offense, and the question, therefore, is, does a bare solicitation constitute an attempt, within the meaning of the section?
Wharton, in discussing whether solicitations to commit crimes are independently indictable, in the 2d volume of his work on Criminal Law (7th Ed.), in § 2691, says: ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Vogel v. State
...5 Park, Cr.R.(N.Y.) 102; Uhl v. Commonwealth, 6 Grat.(Va). 706; Kunkle v. State, 32 Ind. 220; Reg. v. Roberts, 7 Cox, Cr.Cas. 39; Cox v. People, 82 Ill. 191; Com. Peaslee, 177 Mass. 267, 59 N.E. 55. There is a great difference between antecedent preparation to commit a crime and an attempt ......
-
State v. Donovan
...Wis. 359, 54 N.W. 577; Reg. v. Williams, 1 C. & K. 589; Ex parte Floyd, 7 Cal.App. 588, 95 P. 175; McDade v. People, 29 Mich. 50; Cox v. People, 82 Ill. 191; People Murray, 14 Cal. 159. The above authorities go fully into the question as to what constitutes an attempt, and the necessity of ......
-
U.S. v. American Airlines, Inc.
...67 Md. 524, 10 Atlantic 208 (1887), State v. Baller, 26 W.Va. 90 (1885), Stabler v. The Commonwealth, 95 Pa. 318 (1880), Cox v. The People, 82 Ill. 191 (1876), McDade v. The People, 29 Mich. 50 (1874), Smith v. The Commonwealth, 54 Pa. 209 (1864).11 570 F.Supp. at 661.12 See e.g., State v. ......
-
State v. McCall
... ... It concedes 'some states have held that there is such an offense as assault with intent to commit incest.' Perhaps this concession is too broad. The decisions and texts refer to an offense of 'attempt to commit incest.' State v. Winslow, 30 Utah 403, 85 P. 433, 435, 8 Ann.Cas. 908; People v. Murray, 14 Cal. 159; People v. Gleason, 99 Cal. 359, 33 P. 1111; Cox v. People, 82 Ill. 191; State v. McGilvery, 20 Wash. 240, 55 P. 115; 27 Am.Jur., Incest, section 8; 42 C.J.S., Incest, § 9; 16 Am. & Eng.Ency. of Law, 2d Ed. 141. See also 75 C.J.S., Rape, § 20 ... [245 Iowa ... ...