Alexander v. Thurmond

Fourth Circuit

Alexander v. Thurmond

272 F. 474, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1647

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

DecidedFebruary 18, 1921

DocketNo. 1865

StatusPublished

This text of 272 F. 474 (Alexander v. Thurmond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Alexander v. Thurmond, 272 F. 474, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1647 (4th Cir. 1921).

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Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff in error was convicted of illicit distilling, in violation of sections 3258, 3279, and 3281 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. §§ 5994, 6019, 6021). The offense of which the jury found him guilty was committed on the 7th of March, 1919. When the case was called for trial there was a demurrer to the indictment and a motion to quash, on the ground in substance that the sections named had been repealed by the National Prohibition Act (41 Stat. 305). The demurrer was overruled, and the motion denied; and this is the only .error assigned.

The contention is wholly devoid of merit. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on tire 16th of January, 1919. By its own terms it did not become effective until a year thereafter, or on the 17th of January, 1920. The National Prohibition Act also took effect by its own terms on the latter date,, and this act expressly provides that it shall not “relieve any person from any liability, civil or criminal, heretofore or hereafter incurred under existing laws.” For an offense committed in March, 1919, plaintiff in error was clearly punishable under the law then in force.

Affirmed.

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PER CURIAM.

Plaintiff in error was convicted of illicit distilling, in violation of sections 3258, 3279, and 3281 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. §§ 5994, 6019, 6021). The offense of which the jury found him guilty was committed on the 7th of March, 1919. When the case was called for trial there was a demurrer to the indictment and a motion to quash, on the ground in substance that the sections named had been repealed by the National Prohibition Act (41 Stat. 305). The demurrer was overruled, and the motion denied; and this is the only .error assigned.

The contention is wholly devoid of merit. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified on tire 16th of January, 1919. By its own terms it did not become effective until a year thereafter, or on the 17th of January, 1920. The National Prohibition Act also took effect by its own terms on the latter date,, and this act expressly provides that it shall not “relieve any person from any liability, civil or criminal, heretofore or hereafter incurred under existing laws.” For an offense committed in March, 1919, plaintiff in error was clearly punishable under the law then in force.

Affirmed.

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Bluebook (online)

272 F. 474, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 1647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-v-thurmond-ca4-1921.