State v. Rice

• Decision Date: 18 June 1881
• Citation: 56 Iowa 431,9 N.W. 343
• Parties: STATE OF IOWA v. RICE.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

56 Iowa 431

9 N.W. 343

STATE OF IOWA

v.RICE.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed June 18, 1881.

Appeal from Butler district court.

Indictment for a libel. Trial by jury. Verdict, guilty. Judgment, and defendant appeals.No appearance for appellant.

Smith McPherson, Att'y Gen., for the State.

SEEVERS, J.

The court instructed the jury as follows: “The indictment charges, as I think, three matters which are libellous as to Lucy Picket. The first, that she aided her daughter, Mrs. Royce, in carrying on the business of a prostitute in the house of Deacon Picket. To justify under the charge the defendant should prove that Mary Royce carried on the business of a prostitute in the house in question, and was aided by Lucy Picket. It would not be enough to show that Mary Royce, in the house in question, had illicit commerce with one person, but it should go further and show that she submitted her person to illicit sexual intercourse with various persons; it need not be indiscriminately with all persons, but it should go further than incontinence with one or two persons, and it should be shown that Lucy Picket knowingly aided in the business of prostitution.”

The presumption is there was evidence upon which the foregoing instruction could be properly based. McMillan v. B. & M. R. R. Co. 46 Iowa, 231. The question then is whether a prostitute, or one who carries on the business of such, has been correctly defined in the foregoing instruction. The thought of the instruction seems to be that Mary Royce must have submitted her “person to illicit sexual intercourse with various persons,” and that “intercourse with one or two persons would not be sufficient.” Now, as we understand, the jury were told as a matter of law that the acts aforesaid would not be sufficient to constitute Mary Royce a prostitute. It is certainly true, we think, a woman may be a prostitute and carry on the business of such, if she so holds herself out to the world. Her house may be so designated by a sign as to make this clearly apparent. She may upon the street or in other public or private places so conduct herself as to make it clear that she is a prostitute, and that such is her occupation. It is not essential, therefore, that Mary Royce should have “submitted her person to illicit sexual intercourse with various persons,” and that “incontinence with one or two persons” would not be sufficient to show she was a prostitute. We think it was for the jury to say whether this would be...