State v. Herring

48 N.E. 598, 21 Ind. App. 157, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 54
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 24, 1897
DocketNo. 2,613
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 48 N.E. 598 (State v. Herring) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Herring, 48 N.E. 598, 21 Ind. App. 157, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 54 (Ind. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Wiley, J.

The appellee was indicted in the Miami Circuit Court for maintaining a public nuisance. The venue was changed to the Cass Circuit Court, where a motion was made to quash each count of the indictment. The motion was overruled as to the first, and sustained as to the second count. The State excepted to the ruling of the court in sustaining the motion to quash the second count, and thereupon the prosecuting attorney entered a nolle prosequi, as to the first.

Appellant has assigned as error, the sustaining of appellee’s motion to quash the second count of the indictment, and that is the only question presented by this appeal. The second count of the indictment, omitting the formal parts, is as follows: “That Paul Herring on the 10th day of August, 1895, at the county of Miami and state of Indiana, did then and there unlawfully cause and suffer certain offal, filth, and noisome substances, the exact composition of which is to this grand jury unknown, to be collected and [158]*158to remain in a certain place, to wit, in the Wabash river, a stream of water flowing in and through the county of Wabash, in said State, and thence and through the said county of Miami, by discharging into said Wabash river, in said county of Wabash, certain noisome and filthy offal and sewage from a certain factory situated in said Wabash county, and operated and controlled by the said Paul Herring, and permitting and suffering the same to be carried by the current of said' Wabash river, into the said county of Miami and there to be collected and remain, to the damage and prejudice of the public, etc.”

Counsel for the State assert that the indictment is based upon the provisions of section 2154, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2066, Horner’s R. S. 189i7), which is as follows: “Whoever erects, continues, uses or maintains any building, structure, or place for the exercise of any trade, employment, or business, or for the keeping or feeding of any animal, which by occasioning noxious exhalations or noisome and offensive smells, becomes injurious to the health, comfort, or property of individuals or the public; or causes or suffers any offal, filth or noisome substance to be collected or to remain in any place, to the damage or prejudice of others or the public; or obstructs or impedes, without legal authority, the passage of any navigable river, harbor or collection of waters; or unlawfully diverts any stream of water from its natural course or state, to the injury of others; or obstructs or incumbers, by fences, buildings, structures, or otherwise, any public grounds; or erects, continues,, or maintains any obstruction to the full use of property, so as to injure the property of another or to essentially interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life, shall be fined, etc.”

Counsel, both for the appellant and appellee have [159]*159presented and discussed but one question, and that is the question of jurisdiction. It is contended by appellee, that the indictment shows upon its face, that the offense charged against him, if any, was committed in the county of Wabash, and for that reason, the Miami Circuit Court had no jurisdiction of his person. On the other hand, the appellant contends, that, under the averments of the indictment, __ appellee was triable in either county, as it is averred that the “noisome and filthy offal and sewage,” which he caused to be discharged into the river in Wabash county, was permitted by him to be carried by the current of the river into Miami county, and there to be collected and remain, to the damage and prejudice of the public. It is evident that this is not a prosecution under section 2169, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2075, Horner’s R. S. 1897), for befouling a stream of running water, “of which any use is or may be made for domestic purposes,” and as the State has selected the statute above quoted, as the basis of its prosecution, it must be bound thereby. The question of jurisdiction in this State, is fixed and defined by statute, and for the purpose of determining whether the Miami Circuit Court was clothed with jurisdiction to hear and determine the question here presented, under the facts charged, it is pertinent for us to refer to and consider some of the statutes fixing and defining jurisdiction. Section 1643, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (1574, Horner’s R. S. 1897), is as follows: “Every person committing an offense against the laws of this state is liable to be punished therefor in the county having jurisdiction.” The word “jurisdiction” as here used, must be construed as referring to the jurisdiction of the person or the county in which the offense was committed, and not the subject-matter of the offense, for it must be conceded, that each [160]*160county in the State, has equal and like jurisdiction, as to the subject-matter of all crimes and offenses. Section 1649, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (1580, Horner’s R. S. 1891), is as follows: “When a public offense has been committed partly in one county and partly in another, or the act or effects constituting or requisite to the consummation of the offense occur in two or more counties, the jurisdiction is in either county.” Section 1650, Burns’ B. S. 1894 (1581, Horner’s R. S. 1891), provides that: “When property taken in one county by burglary, robbery, larceny, or embezzlement has been brought into another county, the jurisdiction is in either county.” Section 1654, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (1585, Horner’s R. S. 1891), provides that, “When a public offense has been committed on the boundary of two or more counties, or so near to the line that it is- uncertain on which side thereof the offense was committed, the jurisdiction is in either county.” There are other statutory provisions on the .subject of jurisdiction, but, as they have no practical application to the question here involved, it is unnecessary to refer to them.

Counsel for appellant, in their brief say: “It certainly requires no violent stretch of the imagination to conceive of many cases where sewage might be discharged into a stream of water in one county, and produce no offensive or injurious effect in that county, but might produce such effect lower down the stream, in an adjoining county, * * * as, in this case, the water of the river is used for drinking and domestic purposes by the entire population of a city of eight or ten thousand inhabitants in the lower county, but is put to no such use in the county of Wabash. We take it that the fact that the water-works system of the city of Peru draws its water supply from the Wabash river would be a circumstance sufficient to render that an action[161]*161able pollution of the water of such river in Miami county, which might be entirely harmless in Wabash county where the river water is not so used.” As to this proposition we have nothing to do, for such question is not presented by the indictment before us. This is not a prosecution under the statute for befouling a stream of running water “for which any use is or may be made for domestic purposes;” and, when counsel say that the entire water supply for domestic use, for the city of Peru is drawn from the Wabash river, they go entirely outside the record. The case of the State v. Taylor, 29 Ind. 517, cited by appellant, is not in point, for there the indictment was for befouling a running spring, near a public highway, from which many persons, travelers and others, were in the habit of drinking. There was no jurisdictional question apparent on the face of the indictment, or raised by plea.

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Bluebook (online)
48 N.E. 598, 21 Ind. App. 157, 1897 Ind. App. LEXIS 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-herring-indctapp-1897.