State v. Young
| Decision Date | 21 January 1904 |
| Parties | STATE v. YOUNG. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from City Court of Selma; John W. Mabry, Judge.
George Young was prosecuted for arson, and discharged on habeas corpus, and the state appeals. Affirmed.
Massey Wilson, Atty. Gen., for the State.
Henry F. Reese and B. J. Gayle, for appellee.
The defendant was arrested on a warrant issued by a justice of the peace on affidavit charging him with arson, and, upon preliminary hearing, was by the justice committed to jail. Upon his application to the judge of the city court of Selma, he was discharged by the judge of said city court on writ of habeas corpus. From the judgment discharging the defendant, the state prosecutes this appeal.
The undisputed evidence was that the defendant was in the possession and actual occupancy, under a lease, of the house alleged to have been burned by him. Arson, at common law, as well as under the statute, is an offense against the possession, rather than the property. Heard v. State, 81 Ala. 55, 1 So. 640; Adams v. State, 62 Ala. 177. The defendant was, in a sense, during the term of the lease, and while in the possession and occupancy of the house, the owner. Under the above authorities, and the case of Sullivan v. State, 5 Stew. & P. 178, the judge of the city court properly discharged the defendant, and the judgment will be affirmed.
Affirmed.
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Stafford v. State
... ... Ala.App. 167] tenant or a lessee in possession was not guilty ... of arson if he burned a dwelling house of which he was in ... possession. Williams v. State, 177 Ala. 34, 58 So ... 921, Ann.Cas.1915A, 584; 3 Greenleaf on Evidence, Sec. 54; ... State v. Young, 139 Ala. 136, 36 So. 19, 101 ... Am.St.Rep. 21; Hannigan v. State, 131 Ala. 29, 31 ... So. 89; Sullivan v. State, 5 Stew. & P. 175; Peinhardt v ... State, supra ... In so ... far as the relation of landlord and tenant exists, this ... common law rule has been abrogated by Section ... ...
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State v. Blumenthal
... ... and make no changes in it, arson is an offense against the ... possession rather than against the property itself; and a ... tenant who is in possession of, and in actual occupancy of ... the building burned, under a lease, can not be guilty of ... arson in burning it. State v. Young, 139 ... Ala. 136, 101 Am. St. Rep. 21, 36 So. 19; State v ... Fish, 27 N.J.L. 323; State v ... Hannett, 54 Vt. 83; State v. Lyon, ... 12 Conn. 487; Snyder v. The People, 26 ... Mich. 106, case note 1 A. & E. Ann. Cas. at page 621; ... Greenleaf on Evidence, (15 ed.), vol. 3, par. 54; ... ...
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Williams v. State
... ... than property, it was also held that a tenant in possession ... and occupancy of a house under a lease could not be guilty of ... arson in willfully setting fire to or burning such house ... while in such possession ... [58 So. 926] ... and occupancy under the lease. State v. Young, 139 ... Ala. 136, 36 So. 19, 101 Am. St. Rep. 21 ... To ... correct the mischiefs arising from the doctrines above ... stated, the Legislature, in adopting our present Code, ... provided that "any person who willfully sets fire [4 ... Ala.App. 95] to or burns the property of his ... ...
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Sawyer v. State
... ... will be relied on. State v. McGowan, 20 Conn. 245, ... 52 Am. Dec. 336. An incomplete or unfinished structure ... which has never been occupied for that purpose is not a ... dwelling house in the common-law acceptation of the crime ... of arson. State v. McGowan, supra; State v. Young, ... 139 Ala. 136, 36 So. 19, 101 Am. St. Rep. 27 note; 81 Am ... Dec. 67 note; 15 Ann. Cas. 547 note. See, also, Davis ... v. State, 153 Ala. 48, 44 So. 1018, 127 Am. St. Rep ... 17, 15 Ann. Cas. 547, and note. This court has held that ... occupation is an essential element of the ... ...