Knowles v. State
| Decision Date | 27 November 1923 |
| Docket Number | 1 Div. 529. |
| Citation | 19 Ala.App. 476,98 So. 207 |
| Parties | KNOWLES v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Mobile County; Claude A. Grayson, Judge.
Frank Knowles was convicted of shooting firearms into a dwelling house, and appeals. Reversed and remanded.
R. P. Roach, of Mobile, for appellant.
Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Lamar Field, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The indictment charged that the defendant "did wantonly and maliciously shoot a pistol or other firearms at, into in or through the dwelling house of Ammons Weaver," etc. The alleged "dwelling house" was a canvas tent in which Ammons Weaver was sleeping the night of the shooting. The tent was in a lumber camp. Weaver reached the camp the day of the shooting and had been in the tent only a few hours when the shooting occurred. So far as the evidence shows there was no article of furniture in the tent except the iron bed, with mattress on which Weaver was sleeping. The question for determination is: Was the tent, which the evidence tends to show was shot into, the dwelling house of Weaver within the meaning of section 6897 of the Code of 1907, which reads as follows:
"Any person who shoots a pistol or other firearm or sling shot, or who throws a stone or other missile at, into in, through, or against a dwelling house, schoolhouse, church building, factory, storehouse, courthouse, or house or building used for manufacturing purposes, or any house or dwelling used for the assembling of people for business or pleasure, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor," etc.
The houses or buildings specified in the statute constitute the only kind of houses or buildings in legislative contemplation in the enactment of the law. The kind of building shot into is that which imparts its character to the offense. Matthews et al. v. State, 15 Ala. App. 671, 74 So 759.
"The words used in an indictment must be construed in their usual acceptation in common language, except words and phrases defined by law, which must be construed according to their legal meaning." Section 7135, Code 1907.
In their broadest sense the words "dwelling house" denote a building used as a settled human abode. "Dwelling house" is defined as "a house built for habitation, a domicile." "In law it may embrace the dwelling itself and such buildings as are used in connection with it."
The particular meaning intended to be expressed by the...
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United States v. Stitt
...1104, 1104 (1933) ("That a tent may be a house within the meaning of the law is not open to serious question."); Knowles v. State , 19 Ala.App. 476, 98 So. 207, 208 (1923) (acknowledging that a tent, depending upon its construction and use, may be a "dwelling house"). Black's Law Dictionary......
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Kanaras v. State
...where it had been built for dwelling, movable from place to place and was at rest and occupied as a dwelling); Knowles v. State, 19 Ala.App. 476, 98 So. 207 (Ala.1923) (tent in lumber camp held not to be a dwelling house where only furniture inside was an iron Acknowledging that California ......
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Palmer v. State, 5 Div. 262
...to be strictly construed. Grantland v. State, 8 Ala.App. 319, 62 So. 470; Jacobs v. State, 17 Ala.App. 396, 82 So. 837; Knowles v. State, 19 Ala.App. 476, 98 So. 207. However, even penal laws are not to be construed so strictly as to defeat the obvious intent of the legislature. Walton v. S......
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McDonald v. State, 6 Div. 369.
...to be strictly construed. Grantland v. State, 8 Ala.App. 319, 62 So. 470; Jacobs v. State, 17 Ala.App. 396, 85 So. 837; Knowles v. State, 19 Ala.App. 476, 98 So. 207. However, even penal laws are not to be construed so as to defeat the obvious intent of the legislature. Walton v. State, 62 ......