Case Name: Fairley v. State
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1917-03
Citations: 114 Miss. 510
Docket Number: 
Parties: Fairley v. State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Mississippi Reports
Volume: 114
Pages: 510–516

Head Matter:
Fairley v. State.
[75 South. 374,
In Banc.]
1. Criminal Law. Punishment. Credit for imprisonment during appeal.
Where a defendant appeals to the supreme court from a judgment of conviction in the circuit court, hy taking the pauper’s oath, and failing to prosecute her appeal it is dismissed, this did not deprive her of the right to be credited with the time spent by her in jail pending the appeal as provided for under Code 1906, section 4934, since the order of dismissal was equivalent to an affirmance of the case.
2. Criminal Law. Jursidiction of supreme court over orders and judgments.
Until the term of court has expired the supreme court has full jurisdiction over any order or judgment made by the court dur- , ing the term.
Appeal from the circuit court of Forrest county.
Hon. P. B. Johnson, Judge.
Jessie Fairley was convicted of selling intoxicating liquor and appealed.
On Motion.
The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.
J. E. Davis, for appellant.
No brief found in record for appellant.
Ross A. Collins, Attorney-General, for the state.
The appellant was convicted at the March, 1916, term of the circuit court of Forrest county for retailing and sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars and thirty days in jail. Appellant took the pauper’s oath and filed petition for appeal to the supreme court. She has been in jail since the 15th of November, 1916.
The appeal was not prosecuted to a conclusion, no notice was given to the stenographer to transcribe his notes, no assignment of errors was filed and no brief was filed for the appellant.
This court of its own motion dismissed this case on April 23, 1917.
A motion is now filed in this court asking that appellant be allowed credit on the judgment of the lower court for the full time she remained in prison pending said appeal.
Section 4934, of the Code is as follows: “In case of an affirmance by the supreme court of a judgment for imprisonment, if the appellant had remained in prison pending the appeal, the time of imprisonment shall be credited to him, but if he has been on bail, the supreme court shall fix the time for the commencement of his imprisonment, under the judgment of affirmance, so as to cause him to suffer the full time of imprisonment fixed by the judgment of the court below.”
The appeal in this case having been dismissed by this court, the court is without jurisdiction to entertain this motion because the case is not' in this court any longer.
Section 4934, of the Code grants relief “in cáse of an affirmance by the supreme court” only. In other, words, in the absence of a statute granting’ the relief, no such relief could be obtained. It therefore follows that the relief, if any, must be found'within the terms of section 4934 of the Code.
I submit, therefore, that the relief cannot be granted for the following reasons, to wit: First, because this
court is without jurisdiction the appeal having been dismissed: second, because the case does not come within the terms óf the statute as an affirmance was not had in this case, but the appeal was dismissed. Habeas corpus is the only way'in which appellant can now have this matter determined.

Opinion:
Cook, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
Per Curiam. Appeal dismissed.
On Motion.
The appellant was convicted in the circuit court of Forrest county upon a charge of selling intoxicating liquors, and was sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars and to confinement in the county jail for a term of thirty days. From this judgment this appeal was prosecuted. A petition for appeal was filed, accompanied by a pauper's oath.
A motion is now filed by appellant asking this court, upon the affirmance of the judgment below, that she be allowed credit for the time she remained in jail pending this appeal. This motion is predicated upon section 4934, Code of 1906, which is in these words:
"In case of an affirmance by the supreme court of a judgment for imprisonment, if the appellant had remained in prison pending the appeal, the time of imprisonment shall be credited to him, but if he have been on bail, the supreme court shall fix the time for the commencement of his imprisonment, under the judgment of affirmance, so as to cause him to suffer the full time .of imprisonment fixed by the judgment of the court below. ' '
The attorney-general insists that, inasmuch as this appeal has been dismissed, "the court is without jurisdiction to entertain this motion, because the case is not in this court any longer." We do not think that the contention of the attorney-general is maintainable. Until the term of court has expired this court has full jurisdiction over any order or judgment made by the court during the term.
The order dismissing the appeal heretofore made is equivalent to an affirmance. If the appellant had seen fit to voluntarily dismiss her appeal, an affirmance would follow under section 4932 of the Code. In this instance she did not prosecute 'her appeal which accomplished the same result. .
It appearing that appellant has remained in jail since she was convicted, much more than for the thirty days she was sentenced, the judgment will be affirmed, and appellant will be discharged upon the payment of the fine and all costs of both courts.
Affirmed.