Harkness v. State
| Decision Date | 15 February 1909 |
| Docket Number | 13,618 |
| Citation | 95 Miss. 506,48 So. 294 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | WILSON T. HARKNESS v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI |
FROM the circuit court of Harrison county, HON. WILLIAM H. HARDY Judge.
Harkness appellant, was convicted in the court of a justice of the peace of having violated Code 1906 § 3728, set out in the opinion of the supreme court and appealed to the circuit court. He was tried de novo in the circuit court and again convicted and appealed to the supreme court. The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
Barrett & Taylor, for appellant.
The demurrer to the affidavit should have been sustained, it being vague and uncertain as to what primary election, if any, was held, and it does not show that it was a political party primary of any kind.
While ordinarily the Democratic party is considered a white man's party the evidence showed that the one in question was not a Democratic party primary or Democratic white man's primary, because Republicans voted therein, and it was evidently called for the purpose of letting the white people, be they Democrats, Republicans, or what not, vote.
The statute itself is void for uncertainty as it does not say who is to be the party to be punished thereunder, whose duty it is to put the name and address of the author and publisher thereon, and it does not provide that the circulating of an unsigned pamphlet shall be a misdemeanor; it does not say the author of it shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; it does not say that anything that this defendant has done or failed to do should make him a criminal; it merely says that a placard etc., having reference to the primary election or to any candidate shall bear upon the face thereon the name and address of the author and of the printer or publisher thereof, and failure to so provide shall be a misdemeanor. A failure by whom? It does not so state. Surely the author could not be compelled to put the printer's name on there. The author does not print it.
George Butler, assistant attorney-general, for appellee.
The affidavit, leaving off the formal parts, is as follows "That W. T. Harkness on or about the 7th day of July, 1908, in said county did unlawfully have published and circulated a placard or poster having reference to affiant, a candidate at the municipal primary election of Biloxi, Mississippi, without bearing upon the face of the said placards or posters the name and address of the author thereof, in violation of section 3728 of the Code of 1906, against the peace and dignity of the State of Mississippi."
The affidavit charged that appellant did have published and circulated a placard or poster having reference to affiant (Tolbot) a candidate, etc., without having upon the face of it the name or address of the author thereof. This is in the language of the statute.
It is next said that the prosecution must fail because it was not alleged or proven that Tolbot was a candidate of a political party primary; that the chapter deals with known state political party primaries. All state political nominations under the primary system must be made by a political party having the party machinery, etc. But in municipal affairs the legislature dealt with well known conditions and provided that nominations for all municipal offices shall be made at a primary election.
Appellant says that the statute is void for uncertainty. The statute manifestly means that no placard, poster, etc., having reference to a primary election or to any candidate thereof,...
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State v. Cahn
... ... indictment charging a crime under the section above referred ... to cannot literally follow the language of the statute, but ... must go further than such language. As to when the statutory ... definition of a crime must be expanded beyond the language of ... the statute, see Harkness v. State, 95 Miss. 506, 48 ... So. 294; State v. Southern Railroad Company, 112 Miss. 23, 72 ... Another ... question presented to the court by this appeal is whether or ... not the alleged false report must be set out in the ... indictment in haec verba, or in substance, or whether ... ...
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McGraw v. State
... ... Montgomery ... v. State, 107 Miss. 518, 65 So. 572 ... An ... indictment must charge the acts constituting the offense ... directly, clearly, and precisely, and not argumentatively, ... inferentially, or by the process of exclusion ... Harkness ... v. State, 95 Miss. 506, 48 So. 294 ... It will ... be noted in the case at bar that the indictment is in one ... count, and we submit that there are two offenses attempted to ... be charged in said indictment, one of which is under section ... 1039, Hemingway's Code 1927, and ... ...
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Lynchard v. State
...727. The affidavit under Section 26 of the Constitution must state the facts which constitute the offense. 16 C. J. 295; Hartness v. State, 95 Miss. 506, 48 So. 294. affidavit in a justice of the peace court charging "disturbing peace" is wholly insufficient to make as a charge of the commi......
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Stapleton v. State
...the offense directly, clearly, and precisely, and not argumentatively, inferentially, or by the process of exclusion." Harkness v. State, 48 So. 294; First Companies v. State, 75 Miss. 24, at page 39, 22 So. 99, at page 103. Section 26 of the state constitution accords to every person charg......