W. W. Brookner Co. v. State

• Decision Date: 06 June 1913
• Docket Number: Criminal 342
• Citation: 14 Ariz. 546,132 P. 1136
• Parties: THE W. W. BROOKNER COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellant, v. STATE OF ARIZONA, Respondent
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

132 P. 1136

14 Ariz. 546

THE W. W. BROOKNER COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellant, v. STATE OF ARIZONA, Respondent

Criminal No. 342

Supreme Court of Arizona

June 6, 1913

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of the County of Gila. G. W. Shute, Judge. Reversed.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Messrs Rawlins & Little, for Appellant.

Mr. G P. Bullard, Attorney General, and Mr. Leslie C. Hardy Assistant to the Attorney General, for Respondent.

OPINION

ROSS J.

The appellant was tried in the justice's court of Globe precinct, Gila county, Arizona, upon the charge of violating section 22, chapter 91, Laws of 1912 (1st Sess.), in that it unlawfully sold a bag or sack of sugar without stamping or printing thereon, or on the wrapper thereof, the correct weight of the contents of such bag or sack. From a judgment of conviction in the justice's court it appealed to the superior court. A trial was had in the superior court upon a stipulation of the facts, and appellant was again found guilty, and sentenced to pay a fine of $100. The case comes to this court upon appeal from the judgment of the superior court.

The counsel in this case expressed a keen desire to have this court go into its merits and decide the question of law as to whether, upon the facts of the case, appellant is guilty of any offense. However, we find that this is not possible, as none of the courts in which this case has been prosecuted ever acquired jurisdiction of the subject matter.

The penalty fixed for the violation of the provisions of chapter 91, supra, is a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than $250. Sec. 26, Id. Section 2 of chapter 8, Laws of 1912 (2d Sess.), amends paragraph 2048 Revised Statutes of 1901, and therein limits the jurisdiction of justices of the peace in criminal cases to offenses other than felonies "where the punishment is a fine of less than two hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment." The test of the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace in this case, as in all others, is whether the maximum penalty that may be imposed upon convictions is greater than he is authorized to inflict. If the penalty may be greater than the maximum that he can impose, then he is without jurisdiction. Upon a conviction in this case, the court could punish the defendant by a fine of $250, which exceeds the jurisdiction of a...