Webb v. State

32 Tex. 652

• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Decided: July 1, 1870
• Status: Published

Opinion

Lindsay, J.

The recognizance in this case is defective, and the court can not entertain the appeal. There is neither the name of an offense recited in the recognizance, nor is there a state of facts set forth in it which constitutes an offense defined by the Criminal Code. The recognizance calls upon the defendant to answer to a charge of “ illegal marking,” without stating what was marked. “ Illegal marking ” of the property of another might be done without necessarily committing a penal offense. “ Illegal marking ” is not the name of any offense known to the penal law. If it were so, to mark another person’s goods and chattels of any kind, or character, would subject a party to a penal prosecution, when he might have committed only a trespass. And every trespass is not a penal offense. The appeal is dismissed.

Dismissed.