Court Opinion

ID: 9808444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:38:43.269647+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:12:56.565169
License: Public Domain

Clark:, C. J.,
concurring with the opinion of Staov, J., for the Court, that a conviction for violation of the Prohibition Law is not a bar on an indictment upon the same facts under the State law, for the defendant has committed two offenses: one against the United States and the other against the State of North Carolina: Adds, that as held by Burwell, J., in S. v. Stevens, 114 N. C., 876, “The selling of a pint of whiskey may be a violation of both the State and Federal laws, and punishable in each jurisdiction”; and, also, there may be a violation of the revenue law of the State and of the statute against selling liquor to a minor, and a violation of a town ordinance for selling without a license.” See citations to that case in the Anno. Ed.
In one of those cases, S. v. Lytle, 138 N. C., 740, it is said, citing S. v. Stevens, supra, that when, as in that ease, there were provisions against selling without a license, one and the same act, i. e., “selling the same glass of liquor, may be a violation of the town ordinance, and also a violation of the State law, if license has not been obtained from both; and further, the same act may be punishable by the Federal Government if in violation of its statutes; and, indeed, if the purchaser is a minor, the same single act may constitute a fourth distinct offense of selling spirituous liquor to a minor — and even a fifth if the sale is on Sunday. Although it is a single act, there may be thus a violation of *765five statutes, and when in such case each statute requires proof of an additional fact, which the other does not, an acquittal or conviction under either statute does not exempt the defendant from prosecution under the other.” All of these acts, which were indictable under the State statute, might, of course, be joined as counts in the same bill, or be made separate indictments, as the solicitor might elect.