State v. Gordon
| Decision Date | 31 May 1875 |
| Citation | 60 Mo. 383 |
| Parties | STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff in Error, v. HARRIET GORDON, Defendant in Error. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Error to Clay Circuit Court
John A. Hockaday, Attorney General, with James E. Lincoln, for Plaintiff in Error.
This court has long since settled the question that both town authorities and the State can entertain concurrent jurisdiction over similar offenses. The first that asserts or acquires its jurisdiction over a particular case, controls it to the exclusion of the other. In this case, as the State instituted the prosecution, it would be a bar to any action by the city authorities of Liberty, and so vice versa. (State vs. Cowan, 29 Mo., 330; State vs. Simonds, 3 Mo., 414; 4 Mo., 376; 10 Mo., 410; 9 Mo., 526.)
John Y. Rucker, with Simrall & Sandusky, for Defendant in Error.
I. The General Assembly has the power to vest exclusive jurisdiction in a municipal corporation. (9 Mo., 531; 29 Mo., 333; 9 Mo., 692.)
The defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Clay county for unlawfully disturbing the peace of certain families who, it was alleged, resided in the city of Liberty.
A motion was made to quash, for the reason that the indictment charged that the offense was committed within the corporate limits of the city of Liberty. This motion was sustained and the State sued out her writ of error.
The only question is whether, by the charter of the city of Liberty, the municipal authorities have the exclusive power to take cognizance of and punish misdemeanors of the description contained in the indictment.
The charter provides that “all persons charged with and convicted of any misdemeanor, shall be punished as herein directed and provided, when such misdemeanor was committed within the limits of the city of Liberty; and all laws, punishments, fines, forfeitures, or costs provided or inflicted under the laws of this State, shall be null and void for any such misdemeanor, when it shall appear, from the indictment or the evidence of the commission of such offense, that the same was committed within the limits of said city; the true intent and meaning of this act being, that all charges of misdemeanor, as herein defined, when committed within the limits of said city, shall be punished only in manner and form as defined and described under this act and the laws or ordinances of said city Council within their authorized legislative authority; provided, however, that the recorder shall have no greater jurisdiction than justices of the peace in...
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State v. Mills
... ... Walker, 98 Mo. 95; State v. Nelson, 98 Mo. 414; ... State v. Miller, 100 Mo. 606; Kelly's Criminal ... Law and Procedure (3 Ed.), sec. 47. (6) Prosecutions by a ... city are not criminal cases. They are civil in form only and ... of a quasi-criminal character. State v. Gordon, 60 ... Mo. 383; In re Miller, 44 Mo.App. 127; Kansas ... City v. Clark, 68 Mo. 588; Carrollton v ... Rohmberg, 78 Mo. 547; St. Louis v. Shoenbusch, ... 95 Mo. 621. The municipality is the agent of the city and a ... prosecution by the city is a bar to a prosecution by the ... State ... ...
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...each jurisdiction may have and enforce laws concurrently. [Harrison v. State, 9 Mo. 530; Baldwin v. Green, 10 Mo. 410; State v. Gordon, 60 Mo. 383; State v. Wister, 62 Mo. 592; State Harper, 58 Mo. 530; State v. Binder, 38 Mo. 450; State v. DeBar, 58 Mo. 395; State v. Clarke, 54 Mo. 17.] Th......
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...56 Mo.App. 579. Prosecutions by a city are not civil cases. They are civil in form only and of a quasi criminal character. State v. Gordon, 60 Mo. 383; In re 44 Mo.App. 127; Kansas City v. Clark, 68 Mo. 588; Carrollton v. Rhomberg, 78 Mo. 547; St. Louis v. Schoenbusch, 95 Mo. 621. The munic......
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...each jurisdiction may have and enforce laws concurrently. Harrison v. State, 9 Mo. 530; Baldwin v. Green, 10 Mo. 410, State v. Gordon, 60 Mo. 383; State v. Wister, 62 Mo. 592; State v. Harper, 58 Mo. 530; State v. Binder, 38 Mo. 450; State v. Vic. De Bar, 58 Mo. 396; State v. Clarke, 54 Mo.......