Turney v. State

Decision Date16 February 1895
Citation29 S.W. 893
PartiesTURNEY v. STATE.
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Appeal from circuit court, Marion county; Brice B. Hudgens, Judge.

Pleas Turney, convicted of illegal cohabitation, appeals. Reversed.

E. G. Mitchell and Marshall & Coffman, for appellant. E. B. Kinsworthy, Atty. Gen., for the State.

WOOD, J.

The defendant was convicted of the crime of illegal cohabitation. The proof showed that he and a certain woman, traveling from Searcy county, stopped over night at the house of a lady in Marion county. They claimed to be husband and wife, and slept in the same bed. They were not married. The court instructed the jury that "if defendant, being at the house of Mrs. Wilson in company with Margaret Nelson, falsely represented to Mrs. Wilson that Margaret Nelson was his wife, and obtained lodging in her dwelling house for one night by reason of said false representation, slept in her bed in said house with said Margaret Nelson, and you believe he had sexual intercourse with the said Margaret Nelson while in said bed, you will be authorized to believe they cohabited together as husband and wife, within the meaning of the statute." Proper exceptions were saved to this, and the defendant asked the court, in substance, to declare the opposite, which was refused. Does the above instruction declare the law? "Cohabit" means "to dwell with; to dwell or live together as husband and wife." Webst. Dict. "To dwell" means "to abide as a permanent resident, or to inhabit it for a time; to live during a considerable period in a place; to have a habitation for some time or permanence; to be domiciled; to remain." Id. The law lexicographers define it "to dwell together in the same house; to live together as husband and wife; to live together in the same house, claiming to be married. Rap., Burr., Bouv., and Kinney, Law Dicts. verbo "cohabit." In Calef v. Calef, 54 Me. 365, it is said: "The primary meaning of the word `cohabit' is to dwell with some one, not merely to visit or see them. It includes more than that." In Com. v. Calef, 10 Mass. 153, it is said: "By cohabiting must be understood a dwelling or living together, not a transient and single unlawful interview." Mr. Bishop, in his work on Marriage, Divorce, and Separation, says: "To cohabit is to dwell together; so that matrimonial cohabitation is the living together of a man and a woman ostensibly as husband and wife." Section 1669. And in a note to this section he approves of the definition given...

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2 cases
  • Turney v. State
    • United States
    • Arkansas Supreme Court
    • 16 February 1895
  • Jones v. State
    • United States
    • Tennessee Supreme Court
    • 2 December 1944
    ...of time, and does not include mere visits or journeys," citing In re Miller's Estate, 182 Okl. 534, 78 P.2d 819, 827; Turney v. State, 60 Ark. 259, 260, 29 S.W. 893; Jackson v. State, 116 Ind. 464, 465, 19 N.E. 330; Calef v. Calef, 54 Me. 365, 366, 92 Am.Dec. 549; and 11 C.J. 951, and But, ......

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