State v. Rawls

• Decision Date: 02 November 1932
• Docket Number: 160.
• Citation: 166 S.E. 332,203 N.C. 436
• Parties: STATE v. RAWLS.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

166 S.E. 332

203 N.C. 436

STATE v. RAWLS.

No. 160.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

November 2, 1932

Appeal from Superior Court, Pitt County; Cranmer, Judge.

V. M Rawls was convicted of an offense, and he appeals.

Action dismissed.

This is a criminal action begun in the county court of Pitt county. The defendant was tried in said court on a warrant issued on an affidavit in which it was charged that defendant had violated the provisions of chapter 127, Public Laws of North Carolina 1921. This statute is entitled, "An Act making the appropriating of partnership funds to the use of any partner without due consent a misdemeanor," and provides that "any person or persons violating the provisions of this act, upon conviction, shall be punished as is now done in cases of misdemeanor." The statute by its express terms became effective from and after March 4, 1921.

From judgment on his conviction in the county court, the defendant appealed to the superior court of Pitt county. The action was first tried at January term, 1932, of the superior court. The defendant was convicted at this trial, and appealed to the Supreme Court. On this appeal it was held that defendant was entitled to a new trial for error in the instructions of the court to the jury. State v. Rawls, 202 N.C. 397, 162 S.E. 899.

The action was again tried at April term, 1932, of the superior court of Pitt county. When the action was called for trial at said term, the defendant by motion challenged the jurisdiction of the superior court to try him on the warrant issued by the county court. There was no indictment in the superior court. The defendant excepted to the refusal of the court to allow his motion that the action be dismissed. The action was thereupon tried on the warrant issued by the county court, and the defendant was again convicted.

From judgment that he be imprisoned in the common jail of Pitt county for a term of fifteen months, and assigned to work on the public roads under the state highway commission, the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court.

Shaw & Jones, of Kinston, for appellant.

Dennis G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and A. A. F. Seawell, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

CONNOR J.

The county court of Pitt county was created by and organized under chapter 681, Public Local Laws of North Carolina 1915. The jurisdiction of this court, both civil and criminal, is prescribed by the statute. The validity of the statute was challenged by the defendant in State v. Boyd, 175 N.C. 791, 95 S.E. 161, on the ground that the statute is unconstitutional. It is said in the opinion in that case that the statute is valid, and that the constitutionality of courts such as the court created by the statute has been settled by repeated decisions of this court. Const. of N.C art. 4, §§ 2 and 12.

It is provided in section 4 of chapter 681, Public Local Laws of North Carolina 1915, that the court created by said statute shall have original jurisdiction of all misdemeanors "as contained in chapter eighty-one of the Revisal of one thousand nine hundred and five, and acts amendatory thereof where the punishment does not exceed a fine of two hundred dollars and imprisonment for two years." Such offences...