State v. Simpson
| Decision Date | 30 June 1823 |
| Citation | 9 N.C. 460 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. SIMPSON.—From Columbus. |
An indictment charging that the defendant unlawfully, wickedly, maliciously and mischeviously did set fire to, burn and consume 100 barrels of tar, etc., and concluding at common law, was sustained.
THE defendant was convicted and sentenced below, and on his appeal to this Court the following appeared to be the indictment:
NORTH CAROLINA—COLUMBUS COUNTY.
SUPERIOR COURT OF LAW, SPRING TERM, 1822.
The jurors for the State, upon their oath, present that Edward Simpson, late of Columbus County, on the 15th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1812, with force and arms, in said county, unlawfully, wickedly, maliciously, and mischievously, did set fire to, burn, and consume one hundred barrels of tar, of the goods and chattels of one Luke Yates, then and there being to the evil example of others, in like case offending, and against the peace and dignity of the State.
TAYLOR, C. J. Malicious mischief, in most of its forms, has been legislated upon in England for the purpose of annexing a severer punishment to it than the law allowed in misdemeanor. The number of these statutes has so overlaid the common-law offense that it is difficult to trace any distinct account of it, and it is the best in the commentaries. 4 Blackstone, 254. The crime charged in this indictment is accompanied with every circumstance which brings it within the foregoing definition; and it is certainly consistent with the policy of the law to protect property from those modes of destruction against which all means of precaution and human prudence are unavailing. The offense in this case was done under circumstances and motives the absence of which led the Court to believe that the indictment against Landreth could not be supported. S. v. Landreth,
4 N. C., 331. I am...
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Duncan v. State
...American decisions holding that it was a misdemeanor at common law. See e. g. State v. Watts, 48 Ark. 56, 2 S.W. 342 (1886); State v. Simpson, 9 N.C. 460 (1823).6 '(Simple) negligence, whether in commission or omission, is not enough to render a man guilty of a crime of which a specific int......
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State v. Scott
...at common law; and in such indictment, it is not necessary to charge malice against the owner of the property injured. 5. Slate v. Simpsen, 9 N. C. 460, approved. At the Fall Term, 1833, of Rutherford Superior Court, the following bill of indictment was found against the defendant, to-wit: ......
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