Lowery v. State

185 S.W. 7, 79 Tex. Crim. 382, 1916 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 152
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 29, 1916
DocketNo. 4010.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 185 S.W. 7 (Lowery v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowery v. State, 185 S.W. 7, 79 Tex. Crim. 382, 1916 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 152 (Tex. 1916).

Opinion

PRENDERGAST, Presiding Judge.

Appellant' was convicted for unlawfully prescribing morphine to an habitual user and assessed the lowest punishment, a fine of $25.

Appellant contends that the indictment is fatally defective in that, in substance, there is no proper allegation therein negativing the proviso. ■

The statute (P. C., art. 748) is: “It shall be unlawful for any practitioner of medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine to furnish to, or prescribe for the use of, any habitual user of the same, any cocaine or morphine, or any salts or compound of cocaine or morphine, or any preparation containing cocaine or morphine or their salts, or any opium or chloral hydrate, or any preparation containing opium or chloral hydrate; and it shall also be unlawful for any practitioner of dentistry to prescribe any of the foregoing substances for the use of any person not under his treatment in the regular practice of his profession, or for any practitioner of veterinary medicine to prescribe any of the foregoing substances for the use of any human being; provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not be construed to prevent" any lawfully authorized practitioner of medicine from prescribing in good faith for the use of any habitual user of narcotic drugs such substances as he may deem necessary for the treatment of such habit.”

The indictment, outside of the proper preliminary and concluding allegations, is: That appellant, in said State and county, on December 15, 1915, “was then and there a lawfully authorized practitioner of piedieine, and, as such, did then and there unlawfully prescribe morphine for the use of Josie Evans, who was then and there an habitual user ’ of morphine.”

The same question as to the sufficiency of the indictment in the case of Fyke v. State, 79 Texas Crim. Rep., 247, from the same county was passed upon therein by us on March 15, instant, that is raised in this case, and we there held that the indictment was sufficient. We did not there discuss the question, nor cite the authorities. We deem it best to now do so in this case, which is equally applicable to the Fyke case.

*384 There are two rules, each fully and well established. One, that when a statute prescribes an offense, and also therein contains an exception or proviso which is made a constituent or necessary part of the offense, then such exception or proviso must be negatived by proper allegation in the indictment or information to make a good pleading.

The second is, that where the exception or proviso is not made a constituent or necessary part of the offense by the statute itself, then it is. wholly unnecessary for the indictment or information to negative such exception or proviso. In that event, the exception or proviso is a matter of defense only.-

And in both rules it makes no difference whether the exception or proviso is in the same or some other article of the statute.

These two rules are not always kept clear in the decisions. It. is sometimes held by decisions that simply because the exception or proviso is in the same article, or what is called the "enacting” article of the statute, it must be negatived, regardless of whether or not it is made a constituent or necessary part of the offense. Herein is where the seeming conflict in the decisions arises.

- The second, and not the first, rule above, is applicable in this case to the statute under which this prosecution and conviction was had. The proviso in said statute in no proper sense is made either a constituent or necessary part of the offense, but instead, is made a matter of defense only. The statute in plain terms prescribes: It shall be unlawful for any practitioner of medicine, dentistry, or veterinary medicine to prescribe for the use of any habitual user of the same, any morphine. That is the offense. Then, as a matter of defense for the lawfully authorized practitioner of medicine only, the statute further ■prescribes: “provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not be construed to prevent any lawfully authorized practitioner of -medicine from prescribing in good faith for the use of any habitual '.user of narcotic drugs, such substances as he may deem necessary for ithe treatment-of such habit.”

The case of Brown v. State, 168 S. W. Rep., 861, is exactly in point in this case. We there cited some of the authorities; among them U. S. v. Cook, 84 U. S. (17 Wall.), 168, 21 L. Ed., 538, and Slack r. State, 61 Texas Crim. Rep., 372, 136 S. W. Rep., 1073, and also Ann. Cas. 1913B, 112. In the Slack case, in the opinion of Judge Harper on rehearing, we cited and quoted from many decisions directly in point on the question, completely establishing and sustaining the second rule hereinabove stated. Ordinarily, we would not again cite and quote these authorities, but in this instance, we will again cits and quote some of them, as well as cite some others.

This court, through Judge Ramsey, in Newman v. State, 58 Texas Crim. Rep., 228, expressly stated, in substance, that the second rule above stated was recognized and held by this court, and cited Mosely v. State, 18 Texas Crim. App., 311; Hodges v. State, 44 Texas Crim. Rep., 444; Wilkerson v. State, 44 Texas Crim. Rep., 455; Osborne v. State, 42 Texas Crim. Rep., 557, and Hankins v. State, 72 S. W. Rep., *385 191. There are also many other decisions oí this court to the same effect cited by Judge Harper in said Slack case, and also in said Brown case, supra. We will not again here cite those same cases.

We now cite and quote from some of the decisions cited and quoted by Judge Harper in said Slack case.

In Hnited States v. Cook, supra, it is held: “Commentators and judges have sometimes been led into error by supposing that the words ‘enacting clause,’ as frequently employed, mean the section of the statute defining the offense, as contradistinguished from a subsequent section in the same statute, which is a misapprehension of the term, as the only real question in the case is, whether the exception is so incorporated with the substance of the clause defining the offense as to constitute a material part of the description of the acts, omission or other ingredients which constitute the offense. Such an offense must be accurately and clearly described, and if the exception is so incorporated with the clause describing the offense that it becomes in fact a part of the description, then it can not be omitted in the pleading; but if it is not so incorporated with the clause defining the offense, then it is matter of defense and must be shown by the other party, though it be in the same section or even in the succeeding sentence. 2 Lead. Cr. Cas. (3 ed.), 12; Vavasour v. Ormrod, 9 Bowl. & Ryl., 597; Spieres v. Parker, 1 T. R., 141; Com. v. Bean, 14 Gray, 52; 1 Stark Cr. Pl., 246.”

In State v. Ah Chew, 16 Nev., 50, it is held: “From a careful examination of all the authorities upon this subject, we are of opinion that it is only necessary in an indictment for a statutory offense to negative an exception to the statute when that exception is such as to render the negative of it an essential part of the definition or description of the offense charged.

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Bluebook (online)
185 S.W. 7, 79 Tex. Crim. 382, 1916 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowery-v-state-texcrimapp-1916.