Case Name: Nathan Millican v. The State
Court: Supreme Court of Texas
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1862
Citations: 26 Tex. 365
Docket Number: 
Parties: Nathan Millican v. The State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Reports
Volume: 26
Pages: 365–366

Head Matter:
Nathan Millican v. The State.
If the transcript of an appeal in a caso of felony is not filed irt this coart withih the time limited by law, nor, by permission of the court, within the term to which the appeal was taken, this court has no jurisdiction of the appeal, and it will be dismissed.
Appeal from Robertson. Tried below before the Hon. R. S. Gould.
The appellant was indicted in the District Court of Brazos county at the Spring Term, 1861, for the murder of William Avance. On application of the appellant, the venue was changed to Robertson county.
The cause came to trial at the Fall Term, 1861, when the defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree, and the jury assessed his punishment at twenty-five years in the penitentiary. A new trial being refused, the defendant appealed. The transcript was filed in the Supreme Court on the 31st of October, 1862.
Attorney- General, for appellee.

Opinion:
Moore, J.
Article 789 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that appeals in criminal eases shall be filed and docketed under the same rules which govern appeals in civil actions, except that it shall be within the discretion of the court, in cases of felony, to permit a transcript to be filed at any time during the term to which an appeal is taken. And by art. 1923, 0. & W. Digest, it is provided that the transcript must be filed in this court on or before the first day of the term, subsequent to the time of perfecting the appeal, or on or before the first day of the time during the said term that may have been designated for the trial of causes from the district in which the appeal was taken. This appeal was taken on the 20th of September, 1861, and if the time within which the transcript should have been filed in this court did not commence to run from that day, it certainly would do so from the adjournment of the court at which it was taken, which could not by law have been more than five or six days subsequent to that time. The 2nd day of December, 1861, was the time designated by this court for the trial of causes brought from the district from which this appeal is prosecuted. More than forty days had elapsed from the perfection of this appeal before that time. The transcript should, therefore, have been filed by that time, or, at farthest, by permission of the court, during its last term. It was not filed, however, until October 31st, 1862. The court has evidently, therefore, no jurisdiction of the case, and it must be dismissed.
If an inspection of the record induced the belief that any errors had occurred in the court below, to the detriment of the appellant, the disposition that we are compelled to make of the case would, from its character and magnitude, excite deep regret; but an examination of the transcript does not produce such an impression. Because the transcript was not filed in this court within the time prescribed by law, the appeal is dismissed.
Dismissed.