Bayouth v. State

1956 OK CR 26, 294 P.2d 856, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 162
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedFebruary 29, 1956
DocketA-12238
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 1956 OK CR 26 (Bayouth v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bayouth v. State, 1956 OK CR 26, 294 P.2d 856, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 162 (Okla. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

POWELL, Judge.

Jack Bayouth, plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged by amended information filed in the court ■of common pleas of Tulsa County with the violation of 21 O.S.A. § 1029, in that, in the words of the information:

“On the 2nd day of December, A.D. 1954, * * * in Tulsa, County, Jack Bayouth * * * did unlawfully, wilfully, wrongfully and knowingly entice Irene Hamilton to commit an act of lewdness with him in the following manner, to-wit:‘ by calling the said Irene Hamilton on the phone and asking her to have sexual intercourse with him and did promise the said Irene Hamilton money if she would have sexual intercourse with him the said Jack Bayouth, contrary to the form of the statutes in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State.”

Defendant was tried before a jury and convicted, but his punishment was left to the court, who fixed the penalty at confinement in the county jail for a period of one year, the maximum punishment provided. 21 O.S.1951 § 1051.

Section 1029 of Title 21 O.S.A., provides :

“It shall further be unlawful: * * *
“(b) To solicit, induce, entice, or procure another to commit an act of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution, with himself or herself; * * *
“(d) To aid, abet, or participate in the doing of any of the acts herein prohibited.”

And Section 1030 of Title 21 reads:

“The term ‘prostitution’ as used in this Act [§§ 1028-1031] shall be construed to include the giving or receiving of the body for sexual intercourse for hire, and shall also be construed to include the giving or receiving of the body for indiscriminate sexual intercourse without hire. That the term ‘lewdness’ shall be construed to include the making of any appointment or engagement for prostitution or lewdness or any act in furtherance of such appointment or engagement.”

For reversal counsel set out and argue in their brief some seven specifications of error, which shall have our attention in the order presented.

It is first contended that the court erred in overruling the defendant’s demurrer to the amended information and his objection to the introduction of evidence.

This proposition is based upon the assertion that the portion of the Act, Title 21, Section 1029, subsection (b), was unconstitutional and void as not having been within the title to the Act as originally adopted. The title to the Act in question, House Bill 39 of the 1943 Legislature, p. 83, S.L. 1943, reads:

“An Act providing penalties for aiding, abetting, participating in, or providing premises for prostitution or other lewd or indecent acts; and declaring an emergency.”

In the body of our opinion in Landrum v. State, 96 Okl.Cr. 356, 359, 255 P.2d 525, 529, we said with reference to House Bill 39 of the 1943 Legislature:

“It will be noted from an examination of the various sections, except those under which the within charge was filed, [also § 1029] that they were in force in the Territory prior to statehood, being adopted from Dakota Territory; but sections 1029 and 1030 were only enacted in 1943. It is significant that the prior provisions though aimed at the suppression of sexual vices were apparently not deemed sufficient to accomplish the overall objective, and hence the enactment of the sections now being considered.”

The questions now raised against Sections 1029 and 1030 were not advanced in the Landrum case. Here, counsel say:

“The defendant contends that Section 1029(b) does not come within the *860 purview of the purposes for which said Act was created; Article 5, Section 57 of the Constitution states: ‘Every act of the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title. * * * ’ ”

While the argument of counsel possesses merit, see Nelson v. State, Okl.Cr., 288 P. 2d 429, 431, where in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the syllabus we said:

“4. If by any fair intendment the provisions in the body of an act have a necessary and proper connection with the title, and are not incongruous with the title, or without proper connection or relation therewith they are sufficiently covered by the title.
“5. The term ‘subject’, as used in article 5, § 57, of the Oklahoma Constitution, to the effect that ‘Every act of the Legislature shall embrace but one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title,’ is to be given a broad and extensive meaning so as to allow the Legislature full scope to include in one act all matters having a logical or natural connection.”

But any doubt concerning whether the provisions in question, Section 2 of Chapter 39 House Bill 39, Session Laws 1943, are germane to the subject set out in the heading to the act, would seem to have been removed in that Sections 1029 and 1030 were incorporated in the Oklahoma Statutes, 1951, and adopted by the Legislature as the code by House Bill 698, enacted by the 1953 Legislature and appearing as Chapter 5 of Title 75, Session Laws 1953. See Atlas Life Ins. Co. v. Rose, 196 Old. 592, 166 P.2d 1011, 1014; Atchley v. Board of Barber Examiners of State, 208 Old. 453, 257 P.2d 302; Ex parte Haley, 202 Old. 101, 210 P.2d 653, 12 A.L.R.2d 416 and note; Brown v. State, Okl.Cr., 266 P.2d 988; In re Opinion of Justices, 1943, 244 Ala. 384, 13 So.2d 762 and cases cited.

In Brown v. State, supra, [266 P.2d 990], in the body of the opinion we said:

“And of course where the body is broader than the title, then the Act is unconstitutional as to such provisions. This is a correct statement of principle, although any deficiency in the title would not now invalidate the section since its adoption as a part of the Codes of 1941 and 1951.”

The latter portion of such statement was not included in any paragraph of the syllabus in the Brown case; that point was not involved in a determination of the issues raised in the case, and there amounted to dictum.

In the Alabama case cited above, the court said:

“The incorporation of acts into the code and the adoption thereof by the legislature cures all defects in the same that may have intervened in original enactment.” [244 Ala. 384, 13 So. 2d 764.]

If such re-enactment of a law by a legislature cures one deffect that may have been considered unconstitutional, we see no reason why it would not cure a defect as now urged against Sections 1029 and 1030 of Title 21. The public welfare requires that the law be settled as much as may be. At all events, the question raised has been passed on by our Supreme Court in the cases cited, and for the sake of uniformity of decision, we adhere to the law in such cases announced on the subject in question. Hurst v. Pitman, 90 Okl.Cr. 329, 213 P.2d 877; Eubanks v. Cole, 4 Okl.Cr. 25, 109 P. 736; State ex rel.

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Bluebook (online)
1956 OK CR 26, 294 P.2d 856, 1956 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bayouth-v-state-oklacrimapp-1956.