Case ID: tex_30/html/0523-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Latimer, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Bennett & Harris v. The State.
    Where the indictment was in the language of the statute, and the defendants, who kept a tippling-shop, were jointly found guilty of selling liquor on Sunday, and fined $15, there was no such error as the court could notice. (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 1908.)
    Appeal from Guadaloupe. The case was tried before Hon. John Ireland, one of the district judges.
    The defendants were indicted as joint owners of a liquor-shop called the “ Bull’s Head,” for permitting a game of billiards to be played on their billiard table, by them kept, in violation of the Sunday law. (Paschal’s Dig., Art. 1908.)
    The defendants excepted to the indictment that it charged no offense, which was overruled. The jury said, “We find the defendants guilty, and assess the fine at $15.” There was a judgment accordingly. The defendants moved for a new trial and appealed.
    
      .John P. White, for the appellant,
    objected to the want of a record of presentation of the indictment. (Code Crim. Pro., Arts.. 388, 389.)
    H. That the joint verdict and judgment was not permissible, it being uncertain who was to pay.
    HI. The facts proved that billiards were played on the Sabbath, but the actual consent and presence of the defendants was not proved; that the mere ownership of the house, and keeping it open on Sunday, and proof of billiards being played there, were not enough.
    
      E. B. Turner, Attorney General, for ‘the state.
   Latimer, J.

The judgment of the court below in this case, and in the case of Bennett & Harris v. The State, No. 3065, also from Guadaloupe, is affirmed, for the reasons set forth in the opinion delivered on the 12th instant by Mr. Justice Lindsay, in the case of Harris v. The State, No. 3066, from the same county. [Ante, p. 521.]