Case Name: Anderson vs. The State
Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Tennessee
Decision Date: 1849-12
Citations: 10 Hum. 119
Docket Number: 
Parties: Anderson vs. The State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Tennessee Reports
Volume: 29
Pages: 119–120

Head Matter:
Anderson vs. The State.
The indictment charged that Anderson obstructed “ a certain private way, a road then and there used by the neighborhood as a bridle and cart way, in the county of Jackson, leading &c. &c., by then and there building a fence across said road,” &e. &c. It was objected that this indictment should have charged that this way was established by the authority of the county court. But the court held the indictment sufficient, as it averred the existence of the way.
The defendant, Anderson, was found guilty of obstructing a private way. He moved in arrest of judgment, but the judge, W. B. Campbell, overruled the motion and gave judgment against the defendant. He appealed.
J. H. Bryan, for the plaintiff in error.
Attorney General, for the State.

Opinion:
McKinney, J.
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff in error was indicted, in the circuit court of Jackson county, for obstructing a private way, and convicted thereof. Reasons in arrest of judgment were filed, upon the ground, that it was not alledged in the indictment, that the private way therein described, had been laid off and granted by the county court, pursuant to the act of 1811, ch. 60.
The motion in arrest of judgment was overruled, and an appeal in error prosecuted to this court.
In the judgment of the circuit court, we think, there is no error. It is no more necessary in an indictment for obstructing a private, than a public road, to aver that such road was laid off and established by the proper authority. This is properly a matter of evidence. It is sufficient in the indictment to alledge the existence of such road; but, on the trial, in support of that averment, the prosecutor must prove that the road in question, whether public or private, was laid off and established, as such pursuant to the provisions of the statutes.
Judgment affirmed.