Dennis v. Town of Walnut Grove
| Decision Date | 02 June 1930 |
| Docket Number | 28780 |
| Citation | 128 So. 557,157 Miss. 797 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | DENNIS v. TOWN OF WALNUT GROVE |
(Division B.)
1. CRIMINAL LAW.
Where seal of office is required by law, authentication of documents from such office must be under seal.
2. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. In prosecution for violating ordinance, ordinance, to be admissible, must be verified by certificate of clerk and by seal of town (Hemingway's Code 1927, sections 6934, 6955).
Code 1906, section 3391 (Hemingway's Code 1927, section 6934) provides that municipalities shall adopt and provide a seal and that clerk of municipality shall be custodian of the seal, and Code 1906, section 3409 (Hemingway's Code 1927 section 6955), provides that whenever in any judicial proceeding it shall be necessary to prove existence of any municipal ordinance, copy of such ordinance, certified to by clerk of municipality, may be introduced in evidence, and shall be prima-facie evidence of existence of ordinance, etc.
3. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS. In affidavit charging drunkenness in violation of ordinance, language "contrary to statute made and provided" did not render affidavit void.
The affidavit charged, in part, that defendant was unlawfully and willfully drunk in a public place, to-wit, "In the public streets in the town of W. G., in the presence of two or more persons, contrary to ordinances of said town contrary to statute made and provided in such cases and against the peace and dignity of the state of Mississippi."
4. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
Concluding clause of affidavit charging drunkenness, contrary to ordinance reading "and against peace and dignity of state," did not render affidavit void.
APPEAL from circuit court of Leake county, HON. D. M. ANDERSON, Judge.
Elmer Dennis was convicted of the crime of drunkenness, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
W. T. Weir, of Walnut Grove, for appellant.
The court erred in admitting the alleged ordinance of the town as evidence for the reason that it was not properly certified to and for the further reason it appears on its face to be void.
Sections 9004 and 6934, Hemingway's Code 1927; 22 C. J. 837.
A certified copy of an ordinance of a town is not admissible unless the seal of the town is attached.
Central of Ga. R. R. Co. v. Bond, 111 Ga. 13, 36 S.E. 299.
Tom J. Barnett, of Carthage, for appellee.
The allegation that an ordinance of a town has been violated is sufficiently charged in the affidavit.
Thomas v. State, 101 Miss. 74, 57 So. 364.
The ordinance introduced was duly certified to by the clerk of the municipality, the fact that no seal was attached does not prevent it from being an ordinance. The certificate complies with section 6955, Hemingway's 1927 Code; Code 1906, sec. 3409.
Appellant was convicted in the municipal court of the town of Walnut Grove of the crime of drunkenness in a public place in said town, in the presence of two or more persons, and fined twenty-five dollars. He appealed to the circuit court, where there was a trial de novo and a conviction, and a sentence by the court to pay a fine of twenty-five dollars. From that judgment appellant prosecutes this appeal.
On the trial in the circuit court the town introduced what purported to be a certified copy of the ordinance for the violation of which appellant was convicted. The ordinance was duly certified, except that it was without the seal of the town. Upon that ground, as well as others, appellant objected to its introduction as evidence, which objection the court overruled.
Section 3391, Code 1906, section 6934, Hemingway's Code 1927, provides that municipalities "shall adopt and provide a seal, " and that the clerk of the municipality shall be the custodian of the seal. Section 3409, Code 1906, section 6955, Hemingway's Code 1927, provides that, whenever in any judicial proceeding it shall be necessary to prove the existence of any municipal ordinance, a copy of such ordinance, certified to by the clerk of the municipality, or the ordinance book in which the ordinance is entered, may be introduced in evidence, and...
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Creel v. State
... ... issued by the mayor of the town, that the seal of the town is ... omitted from the search warrant and the affidavit therefor ... Section ... 2528, Code of 1930; Dennis v. Town of Walnut Grove, ... 157 Miss. 797, 128 So. 557 ... It ... ...
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Johnson v. City of Aberdeen
... ... court has held in the case of Dennis v. Town of Walnut ... Grove, 157 Miss. 797, 123 So. 557; where the ... ...
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Wright v. Shaw
...626 (Common Pleas Court, 1904); Deppen v. Deibler's Admx., 5 Pa.Dist. & Co.R. 252 (Common Pleas Court, 1923) and Dennis v. Walnut Grove, 157 Miss. 797, 128 So. 557 (Sup.Ct. of Mississippi, 1930), failure of the Justice to affix his seal is fatal and requires the proceedings to be On the oth......
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City of Hazlehurst, In re, 42716
...in judicial proceedings. Such copies must be verified by certificate of the clerk and by seal of the municipality. Dennis v. Walnut Grove, 157 Miss. 797, 128 So. 557. Attention is called to Mullins v. Lyle, 183 Miss. 297, 183 So. 696, where it was held that the statute, requiring the seal o......