Ruffing v. State

114 N.W. 583, 80 Neb. 555, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 9
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 9, 1908
DocketNo. 15,258
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 114 N.W. 583 (Ruffing v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruffing v. State, 114 N.W. 583, 80 Neb. 555, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 9 (Neb. 1908).

Opinion

Calkins, C.

In May, 1906, one Muff, marshal of the village of Humphrey, filed a complaint before a justice of the peace residing in Platte county, and having jurisdiction to try and detennine offenses against the ordinances of said village, charging that the plaintiff in error, hereafter denominated the defendant, “on the 3d day of May, 1906, in the village of Humphrey, county and state aforesaid, then and there being, did then and there get drunk and disorderly, and also abuse the said marshal on the public streets and in public places, in violation of ordinance number 72 of the said village of Humphrey, Nebraska, in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the people thereof.” A warrant was issued •apon this complaint, and the defendant being brought before the justice was tried and found guilty as charged in the complaint. Upon such conviction the justice imposed a fine of $5, and incidentally $10, as it appears, for contempt of court, together with the costs of the action. On the same day the defendant, with one Ternus as his surety, appeared before the justice and gave his recognizance in the sum of $100, conditioned that the defendant should appear on the first day of the next term of the district court, and abide the judgment of the court. A transcript of these proceedings was filed in the district court, and on the 23d day of May, 1906, which appears to have been one of the days of the said next term, the said defendant having failed to appear, an order was made declaring his recognizance forfeited. On the 9th day of the following June the defendant filed a motion for an order setting aside the forfeiture of his recognizance. This motion was supported by affidavit, in which the defendant alleged [557]*557that be understood that said recognizance was entered into for the purpose of obtaining a change of venue from the justice before whom the complaint was made, and that be did not know the date of the first day of the said term of court, nor understand that be was required to appear, and in which lie stated that he was ready and willing that the said cause should be brought on for trial before the said district court during the then present May, 1906, term, or at the next term of said court. On the 16th day of June this application was heard, and the court made an order setting aside and vacating the forfeiture of the defendant’s recognizance. On the 23d day of November, 1906, the defendant moved to strike the transcript, complaint, warrant and recognizance from the files, because they were not properly certified, and ought not to have been filed, and for the reason that there was nothing to show that an appeal was pending in the case. There .was nothing in the transcript to show that the defendant desired an appeal, nor that the recognizance.wajj given for that purpose. But this motion was overrulejd and the state was permitted to file an amended complaint, in the first count of which it was charged that the defendant on the 3d day of May, 1906, in the village of Humphrey, county and state aforesaid, then and there being, did then and there disturb the peace and good order of the said village of Humphrey, Nebraska, by being intoxicated on the streets and in public places within the limits of the said village to the annoyance of the citizens thereof, and contrary to the village ordinances in such cases made and provided. The second count charged the defendant at the time aforesaid with using profane, obscene, vile, insulting, offensive, indecent and disrespectful language toward and in the presence and hearing of Muff, a peace officer of said village, when and while the said peace officer was in the lawful discharge of his duties as such officer, contrary to the ordinance in such cases made and provided. This amended complaint was attacked on the ground that the offenses charged therein were different from those on [558]*558which the defendant was found guilty in the court below, which objection being overruled, the defendant was tried to a jury, and found guilty on both counts. The court, having overruled a motion for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, ordered that the defendant pay a fine of $5 and costs of prosecution, omitting the $10 assessed by the justice of the peace for contempt of court. From this judgment the defendant brings error.

1. Section 52, art. I, ch. 14, Comp. St. 1907, provides that “in counties not under township organization justices of the peace of any precinct in which any village or any part thereof may be situated, and in counties under township organization justice's of the peace elected in said village, or from the township in which any village or any part thereof may be situated, shall have jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all offenses against the general ordinances of such village, and for that purpose may issue warrants for the arrest of any alleged offender, upon information under oath as in other cases; and upon the Larrest of the defendant by the sheriff or any constable of uke county, or marshal of such village, shall proceed thereon in all respects in the same manner and with the same powers as against persons charged with a misdemeanor under the general laws of the state; and the justice by or before whom such proceedings shall be had, and the officers making such arrest, shall be entitled to the same fees and costs, and be collected in the same manner as in cases of prosecution, for misdemeanors under the laws of the state.” No appeal is provided for by this statute, and the state in its brief concedes that none is expressly given, but urges that, where an act not criminal under the laws of the state is made unlawful by a municipal ordinance, a prosecution for a violation of such ordinance is in the nature of a civil action, and that therefore an appeal is given in such cases by section 1006 of the code, which provides for appeals to the district court from the judgments of justices of the peace in civil cases. In support * the contention that the proceeding is essentially a [559]*559civil one, the case of Peterson v. State, 79 Neb. 132, and a large number of cases from other states are cited. It may be conceded that, where an act is not criminal under the laws of the state, a municipal ordinance will not make it so, and that an action to recover a penalty prescribed by a municipal ordinance on account of an act not criminal by the general law of the state, but forbidden by such ordinance, is a civil action; but in this case the acts charged in each of the two coiihts of the- amended complaint are offenses against the general law of the state. The first count in the complaint charges the defendant with being intoxicated on the streets and in public places of the village, while section 28, ch. 50, Comp. St. 1907, provides that if any person shall be found in a state of intoxication he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. The second count of the complaint charges that the defendant used profane, obscene, vile, insulting, etc., language toward and in the presence of the peace officer named. We think this offense is embraced in section 30 of the criminal code, which makes it unlawful for any person to resist or abuse any sheriff, constable or other officer in the execution of his office. We therefore conclude that the provisions of section 1006 of the code do not operate to give the defendant the right of appeal in this case.

2. Section 52, art. I, ch. 14, supra, after giving certain justices of the peace jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all offenses against the general ordinances of such village, prescribes the procedure.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
114 N.W. 583, 80 Neb. 555, 1908 Neb. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruffing-v-state-neb-1908.