Editorial
Note:
This
Pagination of this case accurately reflects the pagination of
the original published, though it may appears out of
sequence.
The
defendant, being arraigned in the district court for Ramsey
county, on an indictment for keeping a house of ill-fame
resorted to for purposes of prostitution, in the city of St
Paul, on May 1, 1881, and at divers other dates and times
between that day and the day of the date of the indictment
(October 11, 1881,) pleaded (1) not guilty; (2) two special
pleas.
In the
first of the special pleas it is alleged that under the
charter of the city of St. Paul (Sp. Laws 1868, c. 26,) the
common council did, on October 7, 1869, "duly adopt and
publish an ordinance to suppress houses of ill-fame in said
city, and to provide for the arrest and punishment of the
keepers thereof, and did, in and by said ordinance, provide
for the arrest and trial before, and conviction and sentence
by, the city justice of the said city of St. Paul; and which
said ordinance provides for and regulates the proceedings for
the arrest, trial, conviction and punishment of all persons
who shall keep houses of ill-fame or places resorted to for
the purpose of prostitution within the limits of said city
thereby providing for the punishment of the specific offences
and specific acts charged in the indictment in this
case." This special plea then states an amendment to the
city charter in 1875, whereby there was established in the
city a court of record, styled the Municipal Court, "to
which said court therein was granted all the powers and
authority theretofore given in said city to the city
justice."
The
defendant's second special plea was "that she has
already been duly convicted and punished under the charter
and ordinances of the said city of St. Paul of and for the
said offence of keeping a house of ill-fame, resorted to for
the purpose of prostitution, committed at said city of St
Paul, and in said county of Ramsey, on the 1st day of May, A.
D. 1881, and on divers other days and times between that day
and the day of the date of this indictment, and has paid the
penalty and suffered the punishment therefor, in accordance
with the provisions of the charter and ordinances of said
city referred to in her second plea, which said convictions
are for the same offence and same specific acts of offence,
as regards all matters and things in the said indictment
charged; which said convictions and punishments were had by
the judgments of the municipal court of the said city of St.
Paul, rendered at the said city the days following, to-wit:
May 2, A. D. 1881; June 1, A. D. 1881; July 1, A. D. 1881;
August 1, A. D. 1881; September 1, A. D. 1881, and October 1,
A. D. 1881. The defendant therefore pleads that she has been
duly convicted and punished for the same offence charged in
this indictment against her."
At the
trial before Brill, J., the evidence offered by defendant in
support of her special pleas was objected to and excluded, to
which she duly excepted. The jury returned a verdict of
guilty, a motion for a new trial was denied after argument
before Wilkin, Brill, and Simons, JJ., and the defendant
appealed.
The
charter provisions referred to are as follows: (Sp. Laws
1868, c. 26, as amended by Sp. Laws 1874, c. 1.)
"The
common council shall have * * * full power and authority to
make, enact, ordain, establish, publish, enforce, alter,
modify and repeal all such ordinances, rules and by-laws for
the government and good order of the city, for the
suppression of vice and intemperance, and for the prevention
of crime, as they shall deem expedient. * * * The common
council shall have full power and authority to declare and
impose penalties and punishments and to enforce the same
against any person or persons who may violate any of the
provisions of any ordinance, rule or by-law passed or
ordained by them; and all such ordinances, rules and by-laws
are hereby declared to be and have the force of law:
provided, that they be not repugnant to the constitution and
laws of the United States or of this state; and, for those
purposes, shall have authority, by ordinances, resolutions,
or by-laws. * * * Third -- To prevent any riots, noise,
disturbance and disorderly assemblages in said city, and to
provide for the arrest and punishment of any person or
persons who shall be guilty of the same; to suppress
disorderly houses or groceries and houses of ill-fame, and to
provide for the arrest and punishment of the keepers
thereof." Sp. Laws 1868, pp. 69, 70; Sp. Laws 1874, pp.
30, 31.
"Thirty-fifth
-- Fines, penalties and punishments, imposed by the common
council for the breach of any ordinance, by-law, or
regulation of said city, may extend to a fine not exceeding
one hundred dollars, and imprisonment in the city prison and
county jail not exceeding thirty days, or both, and to be fed
on bread and water, at the discretion of the city
justice." Sp. Laws 1868, p. 75; Sp. Laws 1874, p. 35.
"Thirty-sixth
-- The common council of said city may provide by ordinance
that any one convicted of an offence before the city justice,
subjecting such offender to imprisonment under the charter
and ordinance of said city, may be kept at hard labor in any
work house established by said city for that purpose,"
etc. Sp. Laws 1868, p. 75; Sp. Laws 1874, p. 35.
"The
city justice for the city shall possess all the authority,
power and rights of a justice of the peace of the county of
Ramsey under the laws or constitution of the state, and shall
have, in addition thereto, sole exclusive jurisdiction to
hear all complaints and conduct all examinations and trials
in criminal cases within the city cognizable before a justice
of the peace. * * * The said justice shall have exclusive
jurisdiction in all cases cognizable before a justice of the
peace in which the city is a party, and shall have cognizance
and exclusive jurisdiction of all suits, prosecutions or
proceedings for the recovery of any fine, forfeiture or
penalty under any by-law, ordinance or regulation of said
city of Saint Paul or its charter, or for the breach or
violation of any such by-law, ordinance or regulation, and in
all cases of offences committed against the same. All
prosecutions for assaults, batteries, affrays, and other
offences not indictable, and for a breach or violation of any
such by-law, ordinance or regulation, shall be commenced in
the name of the city of Saint Paul, and the same proceedings
shall be had in all civil and criminal suits before said
justice, where not otherwise herein directed, as are
established and required to be had in civil and criminal
actions by the laws of this state before a justice of the
peace. * * * In all cases of convictions for assaults,
batteries, affrays, and other offences not indictable, within
said city, and in all cases of conviction under any ordinance
of said city for breach of the peace, disorderly conduct,
keeping houses of ill-fame, or of frequenting the same, and
of keeping or maintaining disorderly and ill-governed houses,
the justice shall have power, in addition to the penalty
imposed, to compel such offenders to give security for their
good behavior and to keep the peace, for a period not
exceeding six months, and in a sum not exceeding five hundred
dollars." Sp. Laws 1868, pp. 63-4, § 11; Sp. Laws
1874, p. 27, § 16.
The act
establishing a municipal court in St. Paul amends Sp. Laws
1874, c. 1, by substituting the words "judge of the
municipal court," in place of the words "justice of
the peace for the city" and "city justice,"
wherever they occur in that act. Sp. Laws 1875, c. 2, §
1.
The
ordinance pleaded and offered in evidence is, so far as here
material, as follows:
"Ordinance
No. 10.
"Disorderly
Houses and Houses of Ill-fame.
"The
common council of the city of St. Paul do ordain as follows:
"Section
1. Any person or persons who shall, within the limits of the
city of St. Paul, keep a house of ill-fame or a place
resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness, or
who shall keep a disorderly or ill-governed house or place, *
* * and all persons, male or female, who resort to such
disorderly houses or houses of ill-fame, every person shall,
on conviction thereof before the city justice, be punished by
a fine not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars,
and imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or either, at the
discretion of the said justice, and may moreover be held to
bail for good behavior: provided, proof of general reputation
of ill-fame and disorderly conduct shall be sufficient
evidence that such house is a house of ill-fame, or a place
of disorderly conduct, within the meaning of this
ordinance."
Order
affirmed.
Edmund
R. Hollinshead, for appellant.
William
J. Hahn, Attorney General, for the State, cited Mayor v
Allaire, 14 Ala. 400; Vason v. City of Augusta,
38 Ga. 542; Rech v. State, 53 Ga. 73; Severin v.
People, 37 Ill. 414; Phillips v. People, 55
Ill. 429; Ambrose v. State, 6 Ind. 351; State v.
Moore, 6 Ind. 436; State v. Foster, 33 Iowa
525; State v. Inness, 53 Me. 536; Shafer v.
Mumma, 17 Md. 331; Com. v. Roby, 12 Pick. 496;
People v. Jackson, 8 Mich. 110; State v.
Oleson, 26 Minn. 507; State v. Crummey, 17
Minn. 72; City of St. Louis v. Cafferata, 24 Mo. 94;
State v. Harper, 58 Mo. 530; State v.
Gordon, 60 Mo. 383; State v. Wister, 62 Mo.
592; City of Brownville v. Cook, 4 Neb. 101;
Burns v. People, 1 Parker, Cr. Cas. 182; People
v. Saunders, 4 Parker, Cr. Cas. 196; People v.
Cramer, 5 Parker, Cr. Cas. 171; State v. Bergman, 6
Oregon, 341; Hamilton v. State, 3 Tex.App. 643;
Lowe v. State, 4 Tex.App. 34; Bishop on Stat.
Crimes, § 23; 1 Bishop on Crim. Law, § 1068; ...
