Case Name: The Commonwealth v. John Shelton
Court: General Court of Virginia
Jurisdiction: Virginia
Decision Date: 1823-11
Citations: 2 Va. Cas. 384
Docket Number: 
Parties: *The Commonwealth v. John Shelton.
Judges: 
Reporter: Virginia Reports
Volume: 4
Pages: 280–281

Head Matter:
*The Commonwealth v. John Shelton.
Criminal Law — Act of 1823, Ch. 32 — To What Extends. —The first section of the Act of February 21st, 1823, ch. 32, does not extend to Grand Larceny, nor to any offence which at the time of the passage thereof, might have been punished by imprisonment in the Penitentiary, for more than two years.
This was an adjourned Case from the Superior Court of Brooke. In September, 1823, the prisoner, a free white man, was indicted for grand larceny, committed before the 1st August, 1823, and convicted; and the term of his imprisonment in the Penitentiary-house, ascertained to be two years. The prisoner moved the Court to arrest the judgment on the ground, “that there is no Law in force for the punishment of the offence whereof he is convicted by the said verdict.” The Superior Court adjourned to this Court for its decision, the question, “What judgment ought to be rendered in this Case?”
This Case depends on the construction of the beforementioned Act of 21st February, 1823. If the offence of grand larceny is included in the first section of that Act, then the old Law whereby it was punishable by imprisonment in the Penitentiary-house, for a period of not less than one, nor more than three years, is repealed. Consequently, the offence charged on this prisoner, having been committed before the 1st August, he ought to be acquitted, as there would be then no Law under which he could be punished. But, if that offence is not included in the first section, then the old Law is still in force, and judgment ought to be pronounced on the prisoner.
That Act is in the following words:
1.Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That henceforth, when any person shall be convicted of any crime or offence now punishable by imprisonment in the Public Jail and Penitentiary-house, for any period not exceeding two years, such person shall, instead of the punishment now prescribed by Law, undergo imprisonment in the jail of the county or corporation, where such conviction shall take place, for a period not more than six months, nor less than one month, at the discretion of the Court, and be there kept on low and coarse diet, as prescribed by law for convicts in the Penitentiary; and shall moreover be punished with stripes, at the discretion of the Court, to be inflicted at one time, or at different times during such confinement, as such *Court may direct: Provided, the same do not exceed thirty-nine at any one time : Provided, nevertheless, that the crime of bigamy, and the offences punishable by the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth sections of an Act, entitled “An Act, reducing into one the several Acts for punishing persons guilty of certain thefts and forgeries, and the destruction or concealment of Wills,” passed the twenty-third day of February, eighteen hundred and twelve, shall be punished as heretofore.
2. And be it further enacted, That all trials for offences punishable by imprisonment in the Common Jail, and with stripes, by the provisions of this Act, shall be in the Superior Courts ; any law to the contrary, notwithstanding : And in cases of conviction under this Act, of persons to be punished with stripes, or by imprisonment in any county or corporation .jail, such judgment for restitution, or for the payment of the value of property stolen, and such other proceedings shall be rendered and had, as have heretofore been usual in similar cases.
3. Be it further enacted, That henceforth, when any free negro or mulatto shall be convicted of an offence, now by law punishable by imprisonment in the Jail and Penitentiary-house for more than two years, such person, instead of the confinement now prescribed by Law, shall be punished by stripes, at the discretion of the jury, shall moreover be adjudged to be sold as a slave, and transported and banished beyond the limits of the United States, in the manner prescribed by Law for the sale and transportation of, slaves under the sentence of death.
4. And be it further enacted, That the costs and charges attending the arrest, confinement, trial and punishment of offenders under this Act, shall be adjusted, certified and paid, in the same manner as costs and charges of •a similar nature are now, by Law, directed to be adjusted, certified and paid.
5. All Acts and parts of Acts coming within the purview of this Act, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed.
6. This Act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of August next.
Ibe principal case is cited in Mabry v. Com., 2 Va. Cas. 397^ Aldridge v. Com., 2 Va. Cas. 451.

Opinion:
WHITE, J.,
delivered the opinion of the Court:
At the September Term of the present year, the prisoner, Shelton, was convicted of grand larceny, committed ^before the first day of August last; whereupon, he pleaded in arrest of judgment, that " there was no law then in force for tfie punishment of the offence whereof he was convicted," and the Court adjourned the question growing out of that plea to this Court for its decision.
This plea was filed under an impression, that the first section of the Act of Assembly passed on the 21st February, 1823, embraced this case. But this Court, being- unanimously of opinion that that section does not extend to any offence which, at the time of the passage of the act, might have been punished by an imprisonment in the Jail and Penitentiary-house for more than two years, doth decide, that judgment on the said verdict ought not to be arrested for any thing alleged in and by the said plea.