State v. Treweilder

• Decision Date: 24 February 1913
• Citation: 103 Miss. 859,60 So. 1015
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE v. M. G. TREWEILDER

60 So. 1015

103 Miss. 859

STATE v. M. G. TREWEILDER

Supreme Court of Mississippi

February 24, 1913

October 1912

APPEAL from the circuit court of Coahoma county, HON. T. B. WATKINS Judge.

M. G Treweilder was charged with renting a house for purposes of prostitution. From a judgment sustaining a demurrer to the indictment, the state appeals.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Reversed. Suggestion of error filed and overruled.

Frank Johnston, assistant attorney-general, for the state.

The appellee in this case was indicted in the second district of Coahoma county for renting a house, or premises, to one Maggie Fisher for the purposes of a bawdyhouse. The averments of the indictment are, that she rented the premises for the purposes of a bawdyhouse, and this was the purpose of the lessor; and, second, that after the lease which was made to Maggie Fisher, she unlawfully and willfully kept and maintained these premises as a bawdyhouse, with the connivance and procurement of the appellee.

To this indictment, a demurrer was interposed assigning three grounds: First, that the lease of these premises for a bawdyhouse was not in violation of any law, statutory or common law, in force in Mississippi; second, because the indictment does not charge any offense against the laws of the state of Mississippi; third, because the indictment does not seek to charge the defendant with being the keeper of a bawdyhouse.

The trial judge held the demurrer to be well taken and sustained the same. From this the state, through the district attorney prosecutes the present appeal. The only question involved in the case is whether or not a lessor who leases premises for the purpose of maintaining a bawdyhouse by the lessee, that being the purpose of the lease, and where the premises are actually used with his knowledge and consent and connivance as such disorderly house, whether this is in violation of any law, statutory or common law of the State of Mississippi.

I am not aware of any statute making this a misdemeanor, but I respectfully submit to the court the following citations and comments upon the authorities of this offense as a misdemeanor at common law.

Bishop on Criminal Law, section 1090, states in his text that it was an offense and a misdemeanor at common law for an owner of property to rent it for the purpose of its being used as a bawdyhouse, where this was the purpose of the lease, and the bawdyhouse was maintained with the knowledge of the lessor.

In Smith's case, 15 Rhode Island, , involving this question, the court held it to be a common law offense, and sustained the indictment. In this case the owner of the house had rented several rooms in the house for immoral purposes to disorderly women, who were using it for illegal purposes, and the court said that this was an offense at common law, and the court commented on the fact that the landlord was living in the house, and had the power to eject these tenants if they were disorderly characters.

In Greater's case, 105 Ind. , in which there was an indictment of this character, the court recognized this as a misdemeanor at common law, but decided that there must be knowledge of the disorderly character of the house on the part of the lessor.

The supreme court of Tennessee in Whitely's case, 4 Leigh. , in a case of renting a house for bawdy purposes, where the house was in fact kept as a bawdyhouse, it was recognized as a common law offense, but the indictment in that particular case was regarded as insufficient because it did not charge notice of that fact to the lessor.

In the Harrington case, 3 Pick. , the Pennsylvania court held that renting a house for these purposes constituted an indictable offense at common law, but in announcing the rule the court stated that the renting for this purpose, with knowledge of the fact to the lessor that the premises were to be used for this purpose, constituted the offense. See, also, Smith's case, 6 Gill. 425, where the court held that renting for these illegal purposes, with knowledge on the part of the lessor, constituted a common law offense.

In the Moore case, 11 Cush. 600, this is regarded as a common law offense, but in that case the court said the indictment was not sufficiently specific.

The...