Sawyer v. City of Blakely
| Decision Date | 19 June 1907 |
| Docket Number | 489. |
| Parties | SAWYER v. CITY OF BLAKELY. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
A city whose charter contains a "general welfare clause" may legally pass an ordinance prohibiting the possession of intoxicating liquors kept for the purposes of illegal sale.
Under such an ordinance, proof of the possession of the liquor and an illegal sale thereof will authorize a conviction.
[Ed Note.-For cases in point see Cent. Dig. vol. 29, Intoxicating Liquors, § 309.]
Certiorari lies to correct judgments which are irregular or erroneous but not those which are wholly void.
[Ed Note.-For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 9, Certiorari §§ 40-42.]
The courts will not pass upon moot constitutional questions.
[Ed. Note.-For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 10, Constitutional Law, § 43.]
Error from Superior Court, Early County; W. C. Worrill, Judge.
Monk Sawyer was convicted of a violation of an ordinance of the city of Blakely prohibiting the possession of intoxicating liquor kept for the purpose of an unlawful sale, and he brings error. Affirmed.
The plaintiff in error was convicted before the mayor, presiding in the police court of the city of Blakely, for a violation of the following municipal ordinance: By section 17 of the city ordinances all persons convicted thereunder are to be punished according to section 13 of the city charter (Acts 1900, p. 223), which prescribes that the officer presiding in the police court shall have the authority to punish persons convicted therein of violating the city ordinances by fine not exceeding $100, by imprisonment in the jail of Early county, or such other place as the city council may provide for a prison, for a term not exceeding 100 days, either or both, and to coerce the payment of fines by imprisonment. Labor in the chain-gang or on the streets, not exceeding 100 days, may be allowed as alternative to fine or imprisonment. Sentence may be cumulative. Upon the trial the accused moved a discharge on the ground that there was no sufficient charter authority for the passage of the ordinance under which he was being tried. The mayor denied the motion, and to this one of the exceptions is taken. The evidence was conflicting; but the mayor adjudged the defendant guilty and imposed a fine of $50, with the alternative of 50 days' work on the streets of the city. The defendant sought certiorari, which was denied by the judge of the superior court.
Among the grounds for certiorari it is contended that the judgment and sentence of the police is void, because section 13 of the city charter is in violation of article 1, § 1, par. 2 (the due process of law clause), of the state Constitution "because it provides for a penalty of 3 1/3 months' servitude in the chain-gang or on the streets of Blakely, without providing for the due process of law in the trial of offenders; the process allowed petitioner consisting of a warrant sworn out before the mayor, on which he was put upon trial, without a copy of the accusation charging him with a crime, and without a trial by jury, and with nothing more on the record than the name of the arresting officer, the names of the witnesses for the prosecution, the offense charged, and (after the trial) the judgment and sentence of the court." A paragraph of the petition for certiorari also asserts: "Your petitioner avers that he has been denied the equal protection of the laws, contrary to and in violation of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States (Civ. Code 1895, § 6030) which says that no state shall 'deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,' in that he was convicted of a crime whose punishment was more severe than the average punishment of...
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