State v. Lovejoy

Decision Date05 December 1902
Citation135 Ala. 64,33 So. 156
PartiesSTATE EX REL. JOHNSON ET AL. v. LOVEJOY, JUDGE.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Impeachment proceeding, on the relation of Thomas L. Johnson and others, against J. H. Lovejoy, judge of probate of Etowah county. Judgment of not guilty.

This was an impeachment proceeding originally commenced in the supreme court by the filing of a petition or information by Thomas L. Johnson and others in their own behalf and for the state, wherein they averred in many several specifications that J. H. Lovejoy, judge of probate of Etowah county, in the state of Alabama, while acting as said judge of probate, corruptly charged and received fees in several instances and transactions, and also by separate and several specifications that said Lovejoy as said judge of probate was guilty of willful neglect in the discharge of his duty as said judge of probate of Etowah county. The information contained 38 specifications, which separately charged several and distinct instances of alleged corruption in corruptly charging and receiving fees and for willful neglect of duty. In the respondent's answer to said information he denied the several allegations contained therein, and pleaded not guilty. The case was tried before the supreme court upon oral testimony.

Motley & Carson and Goodhue & Blackwood, for relators. Dortch & Martin and Burnett, Hood & Murphree, for defendant.

PER CURIAM.

Upon a consideration of the evidence in this case we are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent, as probate judge of Etowah county, charged and received fees or compensation in several of the instances alleged in the information to which he was not entitled under the law; but we are not so satisfied that he charged and received such fees or compensation corruptly in any instance; nor are we satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent was guilty of the willful neglect of duty charged in one or more of the specifications of the information. We therefore find and conclude that the respondent is not guilty as charged in the information, and judgment will be entered accordingly.

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5 cases
  • State ex rel. Mullis v. Mathews
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • 19 Enero 1953
    ...same. While section 181, supra, has been in the Code for a long time, not much use has been made of it. The case of State ex rel. Johnson v. Lovejoy, 135 Ala. 64, 33 So. 156, is the only reported case which we have observed in which the authority of that statute was exercised. The report of......
  • Nelson v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • 17 Abril 1913
    ...strict construction in favor of the accused. State v. Buckley, 54 Ala. 599; State v. Robinson, 111 Ala. 482, 20 So. 30; State v. Lovejoy, 135 Ala. 64, 33 So. 156. 7 of the act provides that any commissioner, or clerk of a commission, who neglects to perform any duty imposed upon him by the ......
  • State v. Hasty
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • 4 Noviembre 1913
    ... ... withheld with the intent to defraud the county or any one ... else, and unless such was the case, his conduct in this ... particular did not amount to such corruption in office as is ... provided for by the Constitution. State v. Lovejoy, ... 135 Ala. 64, 33 So. 156 ... The ... Constitution does not require the probate judges to be ... learned in the law, nor is perfection expected in all ... instances, whether the judge be a layman or one learned in ... the law; but records and judgments of the county court are so ... ...
  • State ex rel. Garrett v. McPeters, 8 Div. 618
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • 13 Noviembre 1951
    ...criminal prosecutions. The State must prove the charge on which the proceeding is based beyond a reasonable doubt. State ex rel. Johnson v. Lovejoy, 135 Ala. 64, 33 So. 156; State ex rel. Attorney General v. Robinson, 111 Ala. 482, 20 So. 30; State ex rel. Attorney General v. Talley, 102 Al......
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