Gould v. People of State

• Decision Date: 30 June 1878
• Citation: Gould v. People of State , 89 Ill. 216, 1878 WL 10008 (Ill. 1878)
• Parties: PHILANDER GOULDv.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

89 Ill. 216

1878 WL 10008 (Ill.)

PHILANDER GOULD

v.THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June Term, 1878.

WRIT OF ERROR to the County Court of Edwards county; the Hon. J. M. CAMPBELL, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. BELL & GREEN, and Mr. H. J. STRAWN, for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. JUSTICE WALKER delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was a prosecution for a riot, in the county court of Edwards county. As the foundation of the prosecution, this affidavit was filed as the information:

“Joseph Weber, of the county of Richland and State of Illinois, after being first duly sworn, upon his oath says, that Philander Gould and William Newbery, of said county of Edwards, on the 17th day of December, A. D. 1877, at said county of Edwards, did do a lawful act in a violent and tumultuous manner, in this, that they took possession of certain hogs under a chattel mortgage given by said Weber to the said Gould, and they took possession of the same in a violent and tumultuous manner, and maltreated and abused the said Weber.

JOSEPH WEBER.”

It was sworn to before the county clerk. In this case there is an affidavit charging that a riot was committed, giving time and place, but there was no information filed, nor is the affidavit in the form of an information. In the case of Parris v. The People, 76 Ill. 274, it was held that the act conferring jurisdiction in cases of misdemeanors, on county courts, does not dispense with the requirements of an indictment; that the accused is still entitled to be informed of the offense with which he is charged, and with the same certainty as is required in an indictment. Such an information should charge the accused positively with the commission of the offense. Such an information, like an indictment, should be...