Case Name: The State of Iowa v. Kœhler
Court: Iowa Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Iowa
Decision Date: 1858-10-11
Citations: 6 Iowa 398
Docket Number: 
Parties: The State of Iowa v. Kœhler.
Judges: 
Reporter: Iowa Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 398–399

Head Matter:
The State of Iowa v. Kœhler.
After the talcing effeot of the new constitution of the State of Iowa, a grand jury had no legal authority to inquire into offences less than felony, and in whioh the punishment does not exceed a fine of one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for thirty days.
Since the talcing effect of the new constitution, the offence of selling intoxicating liquors is not subject to indictment.
Appeal from, the Lee District Court.
Monday, October 11.
At the March term, A. D. 1858, of the district court, and on the fifth day of that month, the defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Lee county, for unlawfully selling intoxicating liquors to a minor. The defendant demurred to the indictment, on the ground that the grand jury had no legal authority to inquire into the offence charged, which demurrer was overruled, and the defendant fined twenty-five dollars and costs, from which judgment he appeals. The errors assigned, go to the overruling of the demurrer, and the conviction of the defendant.
J. M. Deck, for the appellant.
Samuel A. Rice, Attorney General, for the State.

Opinion:
Stockton, J.
— 'The demurrer to the indictment should have been sustained. The time laid, in both counts, for the commission of the offence, was subsequent to the taking effect of the present constitution of the State of Iowa, which provides that all offences less than felony, and in which the punishment does not exceed a fine of one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for thirty days, shall be tried summarily before a justice of the peace, on information under oath, without indictment or the intervention of a grand jury. Constitution, Art. 1, section 11. The punishment affixed by the statute, for the offence with which the defendant is charged, is, on the first conviction, a fine of twenty dollars and costs of prosecution, and imprisonment for ten days, unless the fine and costs are paid. Act of January 22, 1855, section 6. The grand jury, therefore, had no legal authority to inquire into the offence charged.
Judgment reversed.