State v. Craig
| Decision Date | 15 July 1931 |
| Docket Number | 13201. |
| Citation | 159 S.E. 559,161 S.C. 232 |
| Parties | STATE v. CRAIG. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Greenville County Court; M. F. Ansel, Judge.
Roy Craig was convicted on a charge of abandonment and nonsupport of his wife, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
C. S Bowen, of Greenville, for appellant.
Robert T. Ashmore, Co. Sol., of Greenville, for the State.
The defendant was tried in the Greenville county court on a charge of abandonment and nonsupport of his wife. At the trial, he represented himself and was convicted and sentenced. He then employed counsel, who made a motion for a new trial, which was refused, and appeal is now made to this court.
The statute under which the conviction was had is as follows "Any able-bodied man or a man capable of earning or making a livelihood who shall, without just cause or excuse abandon or fail to supply the actual necessaries of life to his wife *** shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor ***" 1925 Statutes, p. 143.
After reading this statute to the jury and telling them that the indictment was drawn under it, the court gave the following instructions (numerals added):
Appellant complains that the court erred in charging (1), since this instruction excluded the defense of "excuse" given to him by the act and limited his defense to "just cause," the contention being that the latter is a higher requirement than the former.
The word "cause" means "that which occasions or effects a result"; the word ""excuse" is derived from ex causa and means "that which is offered as a reason for being excused; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault or irregular deportment; that which extenuates or justifies a fault." A cause is a state of facts from which a certain condition commonly called a result or effect, arises; an excuse is that plea or statement made by the accused which arises out of the state of facts constituting and relied on as the cause. It is quite evident that the distinction between the two words as used in the statute is largely metaphysical, and, under the testimony in this case, the failure to include "excuse" in the charge as a defense could...
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