State v. Simpson
| Decision Date | 30 June 1828 |
| Citation | 12 N.C. 504 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE v. HUGH SIMPSON and JOHN FISHER. |
From Bladen.
If three persons commit a trespass upon property in the presence of the person in possession, their number makes it indictable, although actual force is not used.
THE defendants were indicted for that they "with force and arms, and with strong hand, in, etc., into a certain cornfield, there, etc., in the peaceable possession of one Sarah McDaniel, did enter, and one bushel of corn, then and there with force and arms and with strong hand, from the possession of the said S. M. did take and carry away."
On the trial the case was that the prosecutrix, Sarah McDaniel, and her sister, were gathering the corn, when the defendants, with two other persons, entered the field with a cart, and demanded of the prosecutrix a portion of the crop, which was refused by her, whereupon they began to gather the standing corn, and take that which had been gathered by the prosecutrix, and although forbidden by her, carried it all away.
His Honor, Judge Norwood, informed the jury that if three or more persons go together to commit a trespass, and do
commit it, the number constitutes the force, and renders the trespass indictable; and that if the person in legal possession is present and forbids the trespassers from proceeding, which is disregarded and the trespass committed, this renders it indictable.
The defendants were convicted, and appealed.
The indictment charges the offense sufficiently if the facts will warrant the inference of law that the act amounted to a trespass; for the words "with strong hand" import something criminal in its nature, something more than is meant by the words vi et armis, which are the mere formal words in an action of trespass. The others constitute a sufficient allegation of an actual force used, amounting to a breach of the peace, more especially when it is charged to have been committed by two persons. The inquiry, therefore, is whether the facts proved according to the case sent up, amount to an indictable trespass. In Regina v. Soley it is said by Lord Holt that "as to what act will make a riot or trespass, such act as will make a trespass will make a riot," by which he must be understood to mean, if committed by three or more persons. 11 Mod., 116. The converse of the proposition must be true, that a trespass committed by three or more persons will make a riot. In every trespass, as well as riot, there must be some...
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State v. Lawson
...836, 25 S. E. 868; State v. Davis, supra; State v. Lawson, 98 N. C. 759, 4 S. E. 134. The defendant Cheatham further relies on State, v. Simpson, 12 N. C. 504, that the entry of three, though without violence (if against the prohibition of the party in possession who is present), is a suffi......
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State v. Davis
...(9th Ed.) 1093. Following the analogy as to riots, three persons have been held enough to support the averment of a "multitude." State v. Simpson, 12 N. C. 504. If a breach of the peace did not actually take place, it was doubtless due to the defendant Davis' declaration of his purpose to e......