Hall v. State

• Decision Date: 27 September 1926
• Docket Number: 146
• Citation: 286 S.W. 1026,171 Ark. 787
• Parties: HALL v. STATE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

286 S.W. 1026

171 Ark. 787

HALL v. STATE

No. 146

Supreme Court of Arkansas

September 27, 1926

Appeal from Miller Circuit Court; James H. McCollum, Judge affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Pratt P. Bacon, for appellant.

H. W Applegate, Attorney General, and Darden Moose, Assistant, for appellee.

OPINION

HART J.

J. T. Hall prosecutes this appeal to reverse a judgment of conviction against him for the crime of possessing an automobile tire upon which the numbers had been mutilated.

It is insisted by counsel for the defendant that the court erred in instructing the jury that, if the defendant kept the automobile tire in his possession after he knew that the serial number had been mutilated so that it could not be read, he would be guilty. The indictment was returned under § 7437 of Crawford & Moses' Digest, which reads as follows: "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to have in its possession an automobile, automobile tires or gasoline engine, the motor and serial number of which have been mutilated to the extent that same cannot be read. Where any automobile, automobile tires, or gasoline engine has been stolen and recovered, and serial numbers found mutilated, the court where such case may be tried shall have power to authorize the rightful owner of such automobile tires or accessories to continue the use of same. The court shall also direct that the owner of such car have the original serial numbers restenciled on the engine or motor car."

The section of the statute in question was passed in exercise of the police power of the State for the protection of the public. In People v. Fernow, 286 Ill. 627, 122 N.E. 155, the Supreme Court of Illinois, in giving the reason for the passage of acts of this sort, said: "The purpose of the act is to prevent the defacing, covering, or destruction of the manufacturer's serial number or distinguishing mark, so as to preserve the identity of motor vehicles and thereby protect the public against violations of law. The motor vehicle has become the most common and efficient agency for the commission of crime and the chief instrumentality employed by criminals to avoid detection and escape punishment, and one of the methods employed is to destroy the evidence of identity. Motor vehicles have also become very frequent subjects of larceny, and the removal or change of the serial number is a convenient method for preventing identification and recovery. One committing a crime, even the most serious, and escaping in an automobile, would be more difficult of apprehension if the serial number or identification mark should be removed. The section is a legitimate and proper exercise of the police power."

It was also pointed out in the opinion that, where a specific intent is not an element of a crime, it is not always necessary that a criminal intent should exist. In discussing this phase of the case, the court said: "In the exercise of the police power for the protection of the public, the performance of a specific act may constitute the crime, regardless of either knowledge or intent, both of which are immaterial on the question of guilt. For the effective protection of the public, the burden is placed upon the individual of ascertaining at his peril whether his act is prohibited by criminal statute. The law in that regard has most frequently arisen in police regulations of the liquor traffic, but it has been applied in precisely the same way in other cases coming within the same rule and reason, such as a sale of imitation butter, a sale of milk below a prescribed quality, the obstruction of a public highway by a railroad corporation for longer than a specified time, the admission of a minor to a pool-room, driving an unregistered automobile, killing for sale an animal under a designated age, carriage by an express company for transportation beyond the State line of fish or game, and in prosecutions for bigamy." Several decisions are cited, and the case has been followed in this court in Ogburn v. State, 168 Ark. 396, 270 S.W. 945. Hence we hold this assignment of error not to be well taken.

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