State v. Huntley

• Citation: 91 N.C. 617
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decision Date: 31 October 1884
• Parties: STATE v. JOSEPH HUNTLEY.

91 N.C. 617

STATE

v.JOSEPH HUNTLEY.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

October Term, 1884.

INDICTMENT for assault and battery, tried at Spring Term, 1884, of HAYWOOD Superior Court, before Graves, J.

The defendant was indicted for an assault and battery upon his wife “with a certain deadly weapon, to-wit, a stick,” and “did beat, wound and seriously injure,” &c., and upon the trial the jury found a special verdict as follows:

“The jury find that Rachel Huntley, upon whom the assault and battery is alleged in the bill of indictment to have been committed, was at the time of the alleged assault and battery the wife of the defendant; that within six months after the alleged assault and battery, complaint was made by one Evans before W. H. Faucett, a justice of the peace of Haywood county, and thereupon he issued his warrant and had the defendant brought before him and tried the case, and adjudged that there was no serious injury done, or deadly weapon used, and took final jurisdiction of the case, and adjudged the defendant guilty and imposed a fine upon him; that the facts in regard to the alleged assault and battery we find to be, that within two years before the finding of the bill of indictment the defendant took an ordinary switch, not larger than the little finger of the usual size of a woman's hand, and with the switch whipped the said Rachel Huntley over her clothing on her back; that the whipping was continued for some time, not giving her more than twenty licks; that the whipping was of such violence as to break the skin and raise whelks upon her person, and to draw the blood, so that it came through her clothing so as to be seen on the outside of her clothing in three or four places; that the said Rachel was not so injured as to prevent her from going about and doing as usual. If upon these facts the defendant is in law guilty, we find him guilty; and if upon these facts the defendant is in law not guilty, we find him not guilty.”

The court being of opinion that the facts found in the special verdict did not in law amount to serious injury, and being further of the opinion that the justice of the peace had final jurisdiction to try and determine the matter, directed a verdict of not guilty to be entered, and adjudged that the defendant go without day, from which judgment the solicitor for the state appealed.

Attorney-General, for the State .

No counsel for the defendant.

MERRIMON, J.

The constitution (art. 1, § 13), provides that “No person shall be convicted of any crime, but by the unanimous verdict of a jury of good and lawful men in open court. The legislature may, however, provide other means of trial for petty misdemeanors, with the right of appeal.”

And art. iv, § 27, among other things provides, that, “The several justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction under such regulations as the general assembly shall prescribe * * * of all criminal matters arising within their counties where the punishment cannot exceed a fine of fifty dollars, or imprisonment for thirty days.”

And the statute (THE CODE, § 892,) provides that “justices of the peace shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all assaults, assaults and batteries, and affrays, where no deadly weapon is used and no serious damage is done, and of all criminal matters arising within their counties, where the punishment prescribed by law shall not exceed a fine of fifty dollars, or imprisonment for thirty days.” The other provisions of the section are not material in this connection.

The clauses of the constitution and the statute above set forth harmonize, and are intended to effectuate the purpose of giving to justices of the peace jurisdiction of “petty misdemeanors,” and thus promote good order, expedite and cheapen the administration of criminal justice in such respects. Petty misdemeanors imply small, little, trifling, inconsiderable offences, the punishment whereof cannot exceed fifty dollars fine or imprisonment for thirty days. They must be of such small importance as that the punishment of the offender could not reasonably exceed that measure, because the constitution limits the jurisdiction to such offences. In the absence of any statute prescribing the measure of punishment for assaults, assaults and batteries, affrays and like small misdemeanors, and thus bringing them within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace as prescribed by the constitution, the statute cited conferring jurisdiction could be upheld upon no other ground. State v. Johnson, 64 N. C., 581. It is because the offence is so small, that the punishment could not exceed that mentioned, that the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace arises.

The statute cited, in effectuating the provisions of the constitution, confers on justices of the peace exclusive original jurisdiction when “no deadly weapon is used and no serious damage is done.” This obviously means, that if a “deadly weapon” is used, a justice of the peace shall not have jurisdiction. This circumstance gives the offence a serious aspect and makes it important. Then what is a deadly weapon? It must be an instrument used, or that may be used, for the purpose of offence or defence capable of producing death. Some weapons are per se deadly; others, owing to the manner in which they are used, become deadly. A gun, a pistol, or a dirk-knife, is of...