Gray v. State

• Decision Date: 15 February 1871
• Parties: Gray v. State.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

50 Tenn. 113

Gray v. State.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

February 15, 1871

The same point arose in Gray v. The State, Nashv., 1871, Feb. 15, in which it was disposed of as follows: " It is * * insisted for the prisoner, that the Judge erred in telling the jury that they must fix his punishment according to the provisions of the first section of the act of 1865, c. 5, and that he ought to have told them that, under the proviso, they had a right to fix his punishment according to the Code, 4686. The charge of the Judge in this respect, was correct. The first section of the act of 1865, as to the punishment of feloniously taking or stealing any horse, mule or ass, is imperative on the jury, and being directly in conflict with the Code, 4686, repeals the same. The proviso to the fourth section of the act of 1865 was in tended to leave the section, 4686, of the Code, in force as to the punishment of the offenses enumerated in the act of 1865, which had been committed before the passage of the act of 1865. The proviso is not framed in exactly artistic language, but the intention and object are too obvious to admit of serious doubt"

NICHOLSON, C. J.