Case Name: Antonio Mesa v. The State
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1885-01-10
Citations: 17 Tex. Ct. App. 395
Docket Number: No. 1669
Parties: Antonio Mesa v. The State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Court of Appeals Reports
Volume: 17
Pages: 395–395

Head Matter:
[No. 1669.]
Antonio Mesa v. The State.
Seduction.— Indictment for seduction, failing to allege that the female seduced was unmarried at the time of the commission of the act, charges no offense against the laws of this State.
Appeal from the District Court of Cameron. Tried below before the Hon. J. C. Bussell.
The indictment charged that on the 14th day of August, 1884, in Cameron county, Texas, the appellant “ did, by means of a promise to marry, then and there seduce one Cirilda Guerra, then and there a female under the age of twenty-five years,” etc. Being convicted, the appellant’s punishment was affixed at a term of three years in the penitentiary.
Mo brief for the appellant.
J. H. Burts, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Opinion:
Willson, Judge.
It is not a penal offense to seduce a married female under the age of twenty-five years. To constitute the offense of seduction, the female must, at the time of the commission of the act, be unmarried. (Penal Code, art. 814.) In this case the indictraent does not allege that the female seduced was unmarried, and hence it does not allege any offense against the law of this State. Because of this fundamental defect in the indictment, the judgment is reversed and the prosecution is dismissed.
Reversed and dismissed.
[Opinion delivered January 10, 1885.]