Taylor v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 18 June 1903 |
| Citation | 101 Va. 829,44 S.E. 754 |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | TAYLOR. v. COMMONWEALTH. |
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW—PROMULGATION OF CONSTITUTION—VALIDITY.
1. The Constitution of 1902, having been acknowledged and accepted by the officers administering the government, and by the people of the state, and being in force throughout the state without opposition, must be regarded as the existing Constitution, irrespective of the question as to whether or not the convention which promulgated the Constitution had power to do so without submitting it to the people for ratification or rejection.
Error to County Court, Augusta County.
One Taylor was convicted of housebreaking with intent to commit larceny, and brings error. Affirmed.
W. S. Timberlake, for plaintiff in error.
A. C. Braxton and R. C. Catlett, for the Commonwealth.
An indictment was found against the plaintiff in error, charging him with house breaking with intent to commit larceny. Upon his arraignment he tendered a plea of guilty to the charge, and thereupon, with the consent of the attorney for the commonwealth, entered of record, the court, without the consent of the plaintiff in error, proceeded to hear and determine the case without the intervention of a jury, and upon such hearing adjudged the prisoner guilty of a felony as charged in the indictment, and sentenced him to confinement in the State Reformatory; further providing that, should the prisoner be refused admission to the reformatory, be should, in that event, be committed to the State Penitentiary, to be confined therein and treated in the manner prescribed by law for the period of one year. Prom this judgment application was made to the judge of the circuit court of Augusta county for a writ of error, which was refused, and thereupon a writ of error was awarded to this court.
The contention is that the court had no authority, and therefore no power, to adjudge the plaintiff in error guilty of a felony, andto sentence him without the intervention of a jury. It is conceded that the proceeding complained of was in strict conformity to the provisions of section 8, art. 1, of the new Constitution of the state of Virginia, ordained and promulgated by a constitutional convention assembled in Richmond during the years 1901-2; but it is insisted that this Constitution is Invalid, and without force or effect in the state; that the Constitution adopted in the year 1869, which provides in section 10, art. 1, that in all criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to a speedy trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent h...
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McConaughy v. Secretary of State
...that, when there is such general acquiescence, the courts will not consider whether a constitution was properly adopted. Taylor v. Com., 101 Va. 829, 44 S. E. 754. Under such circumstances a court certainly should not permit the finding of the canvassing board to be overthrown, unless it is......
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In re McConaughy
...when there is such general acquiescence, the courts will not consider whether a Constitution was properly adopted. Taylor v. Commonwealth, 101 Va. 829, 44 S. E. 754. Under such circumstances a court certainly should not permit the finding of the canvassing board to be overthrown, unless it ......
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Opinion of the Justices, In re
...have been irregularly or illegally promulgated, preclude such belated judicial inquiry into their validity. The cases of Taylor v. Virginia, 101 Va. 829, 44 S.E. 754, Brittle v. People, 2 Neb. 198, Miller v. Johnson, 92 Ky. 589, 18 S.W. 522, 15 L.R.A. 524, State ex rel. Torreyson v. Grey, 2......
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Johnson v. Craft
... ... purposes.' " ... As said ... in State ex rel. v. McGough, 118 Ala. 166, 24 So ... 395, the doctrine of cases like Taylor v. Woods, 52 ... Ala. 474, cited on brief for appellees, is superseded and ... inapplicable, where the constitutional mandate is, as here, ... distinct system for amending the Constitution (Jones v ... McDade, supra; Commonwealth v. Griest, 196 Pa. 396, ... 46 A. 505, 50 L.R.A. 568, 572, among others) is that which ... alone can infuse life into that which is lifeless, viz ... ...