Cox v. State

• Decision Date: 31 January 1845
• Citation: 9 Mo. 181
• Parties: COX v. THE STATE.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

9 Mo. 181

COX

v.THE STATE.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

January Term, 1845.

APPEAL FROM PLATTE CIRCUIT COURT.

TOMPKINS, J.

The defendant, Cox, was, on the 7th day of March, 1843, found guilty before a justice of the peace of Platte county, of a breach of the peace. On the same day, he prayed an appeal, and it was perfected on the day following, to-wit: on the 8th day of March, 1843. When the cause came into the Circuit Court on this appeal, the appeal was dismissed on the motion of the circuit attorney, and the judgment of the justice affirmed.

The act of 20th January, 1835, in the Digest of 1835, p. 372, regulates the proceedings of justices' courts in cases of breach of the peace. The 15th section of that act provides that any person convicted under it, may appeal to the Circuit Court, if he shall on the day of the rendition of the judgment, file an affidavit stating that he verily believes himself aggrieved by the verdict and judgment, and also enter into a recognizance with sufficient securities, householders of the county, &c.

The 19th section of the same act declares that, “if the appeal shall not be taken and perfected on the day of rendering judgment by the justice, the judgment shall be affirmed.” The excuses for not perfecting the appeal on the day of trial, will be passed over without any notice, save that if there had not been time enough to perfect the appeal on the day of the commencement of the trial, the trial might have been continued till the next day, as must necessarily be the case, where one day is not long to finish the trial.

For the appellant, it is contended, that by the 22nd section of this act, he is entitled to all the privileges granted to appellants, by the act to regulate proceedings in Justices' Courts in civil cases, that is to say, that by the 3rd section of the 8th article of that last act, he may appeal at any time within ten days, and that by the 12th section of the same act, “the appeal shall not be dismissed on account that there is no recogizance, or that the recognizance given is defective, if the appellant will before the motion to dismiss is determined, enter before the Circuit Court into such recognizance,” &c.

The 22nd section of the act under which the trial was had, and under which these above-mentioned privileges are claimed, is in these words, “22nd, in all cases not specially provided for by this act (the act to regulate proceedings in Justices' Courts in cases of breach of the peace) the process and...