Seaman v. State

106 Ohio St. (N.S.) 177
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 19, 1922
DocketNo. 17416
StatusPublished

This text of 106 Ohio St. (N.S.) 177 (Seaman v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seaman v. State, 106 Ohio St. (N.S.) 177 (Ohio 1922).

Opinion

Clark, J.

The plaintiff in error presents for consideration a large number of claimed errors, involving jurisdiction, procedure and statutory construction.

The first claim made strikes at jurisdiction, and is based, as disclosed by the record, upon the fact that on January 22, 1921, Frances Fasig had filed an affidavit in bastardy against Harry S. Seaman, plaintiff in error, before a justice of the peace at [179]*179Miamisburg, Montgomery county, Ohio, complaining that she, an unmarried woman, was then pregnant' and that Harry S. Seaman, plaintiff in error, was the father of the unborn child. Thereafter hearing was had before the justice of the peace, and at the conclusion thereof Seaman was required to and did give bond in such bastardy proceeding for his appearance at the court of common pleas of Montgomery county. The bastardy proceeding was pending in the court of common pleas when Seaman was arraigned for trial upon the indictment. The jurisdictional question was raised by motion to quash and by plea in abatement, both of which were overruled and exceptions taken.

This court has heretofore decided this question:

“The pendency of a bastardy proceeding instituted against the. father of an illegitimate child, is neither a bar to, nor ground for the abatement of, a criminal prosecution subsequently commenced against him by the state under Section 3140-2, [Revised Statutes.” State v. Veres, 75 Ohio St., 138.

It is urged by plaintiff in error that Section 13008, General Code, is unconstitutional in that it does not guarantee to the accused that he be advised as to the nature and cause of the accusation against him.

Attention is directed to the penalty provision of the statute, “shall be imprisoned in a jail or workhouse at hard labor not less than six months nor more than one year, or in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years.”

This question was considered and determined by this court in the case of McKelvy v. State, 87 Ohio St., 1. Judge O’Hara in the opinion, at page 7, says: “As the punishment for the offense charged [180]*180herein may be imprisonment in the penitentiary under Section 13008 above, this fixes its character and makes it a felony, notwithstanding the fact that it may also be punished as a misdemeanor. 1 Bish. Crim. Law (8 ed.), Sec. 619; 12 Cyc., 132; State v. Mayberry, 48 Me., 218; Quillin’s Case, 105 Va., 874; State v. Waller, 43 Ark., 381; People v. War, 20 Cal., 117; State v. Melton, 117 Mo., 618; State v. Hamilton, 3 C. C., 10, 2 C. D., 6; Smith v. State, 24 C. C., 140, 4 C. C., N. S., 101.”

The code provisions under which the plaintiff in error was indicted and convicted, and under which he gave bond and was thereafter sentenced, are:

“Sec. 13008. Whoever, being the father, or when charged by law with the maintenance thereof, the mother, of a legitimate or illegitimate child under sixteen years of age, or the husband of a pregnant woman, living in this state, being able by reason of property, or by labor or earnings, to provide such child or such woman with necessary or proper home, care, food and clothing, neglects or refuses so to do, shall be imprisoned in a jail or workhouse at hard labor not less than six months nor inore than one year, or in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years. * * *'
“Sec. 13010. If a person, after conviction under either of the next two preceding sections and before sentence thereunder, appears before the court in which such conviction took place and enters into bond to the State of Ohio in a sum fixed by the court not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, with sureties approved by such court, conditioned that such person will furnish such child or woman with necessary and proper home, [181]*181care, food and clothing, or will pay promptly each week for such purpose to a trustee named by such court, a sum to be fixed by it, sentence may be suspended. * * *
“See. 13015. Upon failure of such father or mother, or husband of such pregnant woman to comply with any order and undertaking provided for in this subdivision of this chapter, he or she may be arrested by the sheriff or other officer, on a warrant issued on the precipe of the prosecuting attorney, and brought before the court for sentence. Thereupon the court may pass sentence, or for good cause shown, may modify the order as to the time and amount of payments, or take a new undertaking and further suspend sentence as may be for the best interests of such child or children or pregnant woman and the public.
“Sec. 13016. The trustee appointed by the court under this subdivision of this chapter, shall make quarterly reports of the receipts and expenditures of all moneys coming into his hands as herein provided, such reports to be made to the county commissioners of the county from which such person was sentenced, or to the board of managers of the penitentiary, or reformatory as the case may be. The court may require such trustee to enter into a good and sufficient bond for the faithful performance of the duties so imposed on him. * * *
‘ ‘ Sec. 13019. The board of managers of the penitentiary, or reformatory, to which a person is sentenced and confined under this subdivision of this chapter, shall credit such person with forty cents per day for each working day during the period of [182]*182such confinement, which shall be paid or caused to be paid, by such board to such trustee.”

Inasmuch as the character, purpose and intent of these enactments are before this court for consideration and determination, it is necessary to examine and consider the legislative history thereof.

The first enactment was the act of April 16, 1890 (87 O. L., 216), thereafter designated as Section 3140-2, Revised Statutes. Its title was “To prevent abandonment and pauperism.”

Thereafter on April 6, 1900 (94 O. L., 105), the legislature amended Section 3140-2, Revised Statutes, and by such amendment included within the law liabilities, penalties and conditions not thereinbefore provided for. The title of the amendatory act was “To amend Section 3140-2 of the Revised Statutes of Ohio.”

On April 28, 1908 (99 O. L., 228, 230), the legislature repealed the original act of April 16, 1890, and the amendatory act of April 6,1900, and passed the act which preceded Section 13008, General Code. The act of April 28, 1908, was entitled “To compel parents to maintain their children.”

This last enactment was thereafter again designated as Section 3140-2, Revised Statutes; and subsequently, under the codification of February 14, 1910, with slight changes in text in no wise varying the intent and effect of the enactment, it became Sections 13008, 13009, 13010, 13011, 13012, 13013, 13014, 13015, 13016, 13017, 13018, 13019, 13020 and 13021, General Code.

The canons of construction include the factors of stated object and purposes, the condition sought to [183]*183be remedied and the legislative intent to be gathered therefrom.

In the opinion in State v. Rouch, 47 Ohio St., 478, 485, Judge Spear said:

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Related

People v. War
20 Cal. 117 (California Supreme Court, 1862)
Quillin v. Commonwealth
54 S.E. 333 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1906)
Bissot v. State
53 Ind. 408 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1876)
State v. Melton
23 S.W. 889 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1893)

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Bluebook (online)
106 Ohio St. (N.S.) 177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seaman-v-state-ohio-1922.