Title: Kelly v. State
Citation: 139 So. 2d 326
Docket Number: N/A
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: March 22, 1962

139 So. 2d 326 (1962)
John Harvey KELLY
v.
STATE of Alabama.
6 Div. 534.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
March 22, 1962.
*327 Peter A. Hall, Birmingham, for appellant.
MacDonald Gallion, Atty. Gen., and Jas. W. Webb, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
LIVINGSTON, Chief Justice.
On an information filed by the Circuit Solicitor of Jefferson County, Alabama, John Harvey Kelly was convicted for a violation of Title 14, Sec. 56 of the Code of Alabama 1940. The trial was had on evidence taken ore tenus before the trial judge, and without the aid of a jury. A motion to set aside the judgment and grant a new trial was overruled. Kelly appealed to the Court of Appeals of Alabama.
Under and pursuant to the provisions of Title 13, Sec. 102 of the Code of 1940, the cause was transferred to this Court.
Section 56 of Title 14, Code 1940, reads as follows:
Section 56, supra, is a part of Chapter 20, Title 14, Code 1940, dealing with "Boycotting and Blacklisting." It was codified from Act No. 23, General and Local Acts of Alabama, Sp.Sess.1921, p. 31.
Section 54, Title 14, Code 1940, is also a codification of the same General Act of 1921, and deals with the same subject *328 "Boycotting and Blacklisting." Sec. 54 of Title 14, reads:
Appellant Kelly insists that said Sec. 56, supra, is unconstitutional and void as violative of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, Sec. 4 of the Constitution of Alabama 1901.
Section 2 of the 1921 Act (Act No. 23, supra) was not brought forward in the 1940 Code, but reference to it is made as Sec. 55 of Title 14, Code 1940. Sec. 2 reads as follows:
In 1936, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Thornhill v. State, 310 U.S. 88, 60 S. Ct. 736, 84 L. Ed. 1093, struck down Sec. 2 of the 1921 Act, supra, as being a denial of freedom of speech and contrary to the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
In 1943, in the case of Lash v. State, 244 Ala. 48, 14 So. 2d 229, 31 Ala.App. 121, 14 So. 2d 235, cert. den. 244 Ala. 568, 14 So. 2d 242, cert. den. 320 U.S. 784, 64 S. Ct. 192, 88 L. Ed. 471, rehearing den. 320 U.S. 814, 64 S. Ct. 259, 88 L. Ed. 492, this Court had before it the question of the constitutionality of Sec. 54, supra, and the same questions were raised in the Lash case as are raised in the instant case.
The Supreme Court of Alabama, for reasons stated, held that Sec. 54, supra, was not subject to the attack made upon it by Lash. Certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States. Lash v. State, supra.
It is axiomatic that sections of the Code dealing with the same subject are in pari materia.
It is implicit in Sec. 56, supra, that the printing or circulating of the matters condemned by Sec. 56 is the "unlawful printing or circulating," in other words, "printing or circulating without just cause or legal excuse."
The opinion in the Lash case, supra, is a complete answer to the constitutional questions presented in the case now before us. We see no point in repeating what was there said, but on that authority, we hold that the constitutional questions raised here are without merit.
The information filed in the instant case is in the language of the statute and was sufficient. The motion to strike the information and the demurrer interposed to it were overruled without error.
But we feel impelled to reverse and remand this case on the ground that the judgment is against the weight of the evidence, and for the refusal of the trial court to grant a new trial based on that ground.
*329 The statement of facts contained in appellant's brief are concurred in by the Attorney General except as to the last two paragraphs, which he contends contains conclusions and arguments rather than facts. The statement of facts is as follows:
It is axiomatic that in the trial of all criminal cases the state has the burden of proving every element of the offense charged, and to a degree beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty.
And we are not unmindful of the rule that when, as here, the evidence was heard orally by the trial judge, his findings have the weight of a jury's verdict and will not be disturbed on appeal unless palpably wrong or unjust.
We are unwilling to say that there was no evidence from which the trial court could find the defendant guilty. The judgment of a trial court is a solemn pronouncement, *330 and an appellate court should most hesitantly disturb it.
On the other hand, the duty remains in this Court "to revise the verdict of juries and the conclusions of trial judges on questions of fact, where, in our opinion, after making all proper allowances and indulging all reasonable intendments in favor of the court below, we reach a clear conclusion that the finding and judgment are wrong." Bowen v. State, 32 Ala.App. 357, 26 So. 2d 205; Taylor v. State, 30 Ala.App. 316, 5 So. 2d 117.
After an examination of this record with painstaking care, we are clear to the conclusion that the judgment is wrong and unjust and should be reversed. It is so ordered.
Reversed and remanded.
LAWSON, SIMPSON and MERRILL, JJ., concur.