State v. White
| Decision Date | 30 July 1886 |
| Citation | 64 N.H. 48,5 A. 828 |
| Parties | STATE v. WHITE. SAME v. PRIEST. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Reserved cases from Strafford county.
Appeals from the police court of Somersworth. The complaints are alike, and allege, in substance, that the respondents, October 21, 1885, within the compact part of the town, beat a drum, in violation of Gen. Laws, c. 269, § 5. The respondents offered to prove that they beat the drum in accordance with their sense of religious duty, and in so doing were worshiping God according to the dictates of their own consciences, and were not disturbing the public peace, or the religious worship of others. The court ruled the evidence did not constitute a defense, and the respondents excepted.
G. E. Beacham, for the State.
W. S. Pierce, for respondents.
The statute upon which the complaints are founded is as follows:
"No person shall, within the compact part of any town, fire or discharge any cannon, gun, pistol, or other fire-arms, or beat any drum, except by command of a military officer having authority therefor, or fire or discharge any rockets, squibs, crackers, or any preparation of gunpowder, except by permission of a majority of the police officers or selectmen, in writing, or make any bonfire, or improperly use or expose any friction matches, or knowingly raise or repeat any false cry of fire." Gen. Laws, c. 269, § 5.
This statute, like sections 7, 10, and 14 of the same chapter, against obstructing streets and sidewalks, and prohibiting fast driving in any street within the compact part of a town, is designed for the security of the public convenience, safety, and tranquillity. As it would be no defense to a complaint for a violation of the statute against incumbering streets, or for fast driving, to show that there was nobody else in the street at the time, and therefore no actual danger of obstruction or collision, so it would be no defense to show that no actual disturbance of the peace or of the religious worship of others resulted from the violation of the statute by the respondents. The act complained of being expressly prohibited by the statute for the prevention of disturbance of the public peace and tranquillity, an actual disturbance is not necessary to complete the offense. State v. Cate, 58 N. H. 240. To constitute the offense charged, no other intent or consequence is required than the intentional doing of the act which the statute prohibits. 1 Bish. Crim. Law, 428. Nor is it a legal justification that the act was done in the performance of religious services, in accordance with the religious belief of the respondents. To recognize such a defense would be to make the professed religious belief and practices of the respondents superior to the statute. Reynolds v. U. S., 98 U. S. 145.
It is contended that the statute is in conflict with article 5 of the bill of rights, and that it is an unauthorized invasion of the rights of conscience and religious freedom secured by the constitution. Article 5 declares that "every individual has a natural and inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and reason; and no...
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