State v. Stafford

143 P. 528, 26 Idaho 381, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 77
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 21, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 143 P. 528 (State v. Stafford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Stafford, 143 P. 528, 26 Idaho 381, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 77 (Idaho 1914).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, C. J.

The defendant was prosecuted and convicted in the probate court of Latah county for having sold intoxicating liquors without first obtaining the license required by the provisions of chap. 33, title 8, of the Revised Codes. The charging part of the complaint is as follows: “Did then and there, wilfully, knowingly and unlawfully, sell to C. Douglas, then and there being, a quantity of intoxicating liquor, to wit, beer, without first having obtained and procured the license, and executed and filed the bond required by the State of Idaho and in violation of chap. 33, title 8, of the Revised Codes of Idaho,” etc.

To that complaint the defendant demurred on the ground and for the reason that the facts stated in the complaint did not constitute a public offense. The demurrer was overruled and the defendant was convicted of said offense and fined in the sum of $250 and costs. The defendant thereupon appealed to the district court, and when the case was called for hearing, the defendant made a motion to dismiss it on the ground and for the reason that the probate court had no jurisdiction to try and determine such cause, which motion was sustained and the action dismissed and judgment of dismissal entered. The state appealed from said judgment.

(1) In limine, we are met with a motion by the defendant to dismiss this appeal on the ground that the probate court of Latah county did not have jurisdiction to try and deter[385]*385mine said action. On that motion it was contended that the crime for which the defendant was prosecuted was for selling liquor in Latah county, a prohibition district. (The complaint contradicts this contention.) It was contended that Latah county became a prohibition district because of the provisions of sec. 7, of an act of the legislature, approved February 19, 1913 (Sess. Laws, p. 127), which section declares that a “ ‘Prohibition District’ within the meaning of this act and all other acts prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors in any prohibition district in this state, is territory in which the sale of intoxicating liquor is prohibited by law, or where no liquor license has been issued in accordance with the laws of this state.” Latah county did not become a prohibition district by a vote of the people, but the county commissioners of that county had refused to issue any liquor licenses whatever, and when this case was appealed to the district court, it seems that counsel for the defendant concluded to contend that the defendant had been prosecuted for selling liquor in a prohibition district, instead of for selling liquor without first having procured a license, as charged in the complaint on which he was tried, and the district court agreed with counsel in this contention and dismissed the case on the ground as above stated, that the probate court had no jurisdiction to try the defendant for the crime of which he was convicted.

From .the foregoing statement of facts, we will now proceed to determine said motion.

The trial court, in sustaining said motion and dismissing the appeal, found “that the probate court of Latah county did not have jurisdiction to try and determine said cause, and that this court does not have jurisdiction to determine said cause except on a commitment from a committing magistrate; that the said L. Stafford has not been given a preliminary examination, and that this court does not have jurisdiction to try and determine said cause,” and entered judgment dismissing the action.

It is contended by counsel for defendant that the only provisions of the statute authorizing the state to appeal are found [386]*386in see. 8043, Rev. Codes, and that said section does not authorize an appeal by the state from any ease appealed from a »justice’s or probate court. Subdivision 1 of that section is as follows:

“An appeal may be taken by the state:
“1. From a judgment for the defendant on a demurrer to the indictment or information.”

And it is contended that since there has been no indictment or information filed in this case, the state has no appeal, and in support of that contention State v. Ridenbaugh, 5 Ida. 710, 51 Pac. 750, is cited. This court held in that case as follows: “We have no statute in this state authorizing the state to appeal from a judgment in favor of a defendant in a criminal action rendered in a justice’s or probate court; nor have we any statute authorizing the state to appeal in any criminal action except the statute cited supra.” (Sec. 8043.) In that opinion the court quotes the first subdivision of sec. 8043 as found in the Rev. Stats., as follows: “1. From a judgment for the defendant on a demurrer to the indictment.” That subdivision has been amended, and as found in the Rev. Codes, reads: “1. From a judgment for the defendant on a demurrer to the indictment or information.” The court in the Ridenbaugh ease evidently overlooked the amendment to that subdivision of sec. 8043, or concluded that said amendment had not been properly passed by the legislature under the decision of Cohn v. Kingsley, 5 Ida. 416, 49 Pac. 985, 38 L. R. A. 74. On an appeal in a criminal case from a justice’s or probate court, sec. 8325 provides that the clerk of the district court must file the papers received and enter the action on the calendar in its order with other criminal cases, and the same must be tried “anew” in the district court at the next term thereof, unless for good cause the same be continued. Under the provisions of that section the case must be tried anew, or de novo. That means that the motions and demurrers decided by the justice or probate court must be heard by the district court, provided either the state or the defendant cares to present them, or the defendant may first demur to the complaint in the district court. The defendant in the probate [387]*387court filed Ms demurrer based on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction to try said cause. The demurrer was overruled and instead of calling up that demurrer in the district court, after his appeal had been perfected, he took another tack and moved in the district court to dismiss the case, because the probate court had no jurisdiction to try the case. That paper is in effect a demurrer to the jurisdiction of the court, and it must be viewed from the standpoint of its legal effect and not from the name that the court or the pleader may have given it. If that motion had been called a demurrer to the jurisdiction of the court, would it be contended that on sustaining such demurrer and dismissing the case the state would not have the right to appeal? It might be, but we think such contention would be without merit, and not warranted under the provisions of our statute.

A criminal case appealed from a justice’s or probate court, after the appeal, stands the same in the district court as though it had been begun there. It is there for a new trial on every point and question that was raised or might have been raised in the justice’s or probate court. The name given by the statute to the paper charging the crime and filed in the justice’s or probate court is “complaint,” and eases involving indictable misdemeanors and felonies are prosecuted in the district court on a paper called an “indictment” or “information.” The paper called a “complaint” in the justice’s court serves the same purpose as the paper called an “information” in the district court, and those two words are often used synonymously and mean the same thing.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Clark v. Meehl
570 P.2d 1331 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1977)
State v. Pruett
428 P.2d 43 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1967)
Howard v. Felton
379 P.2d 414 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1963)
State v. Henry
359 P.2d 514 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1961)
State v. Eikelberger
215 P.2d 996 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1950)
State v. Romich
176 P.2d 204 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1946)
Sekt v. Justice's Court
159 P.2d 17 (California Supreme Court, 1945)
State v. McNichols
115 P.2d 104 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1941)
State v. Sedam
107 P.2d 1065 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1940)
Ex Parte Jones
81 S.W.2d 706 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1935)
State v. Dawn
239 P. 279 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1925)
State v. Ashby
230 P. 1013 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1924)
State v. Roe
215 P. 835 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 P. 528, 26 Idaho 381, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 77, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stafford-idaho-1914.