White v. State

3 Tex. Ct. App. 605
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 1, 1878
StatusPublished

This text of 3 Tex. Ct. App. 605 (White v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. State, 3 Tex. Ct. App. 605 (Tex. Ct. App. 1878).

Opinion

White, J.

The appellant in this case was indicted, tried, and convicted, under article 2426 of Paschal’s Digest, for swindling one George Dirmeyer. To a proper appreciation of the view we have taken of the case we deem it not inappropriate to copy in full the charging portion of the indictment, which is in these words, viz.: “ That Charles F. White, late of the county aforesaid, on the seventh day of the month of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven, in the said county of Galveston in the state of Texas, with force and arms, then and there devising and intending to cheat, defraud, and swindle George Dirmeyer of his personal property and money, then and there, unlawfully, knowingly, designedly, and feloniously then and there did falsely pretend and fraudulently represent to George Dirmeyer (he, the said George Dirmeyer, then and there being indebted to the city of Galveston for occupation tax) that he, the said Charles F. White, had legal power and authority to demand and collect the occupation tax for the city of Galveston, county aforesaid, and that he, the said Charles F. White, did then and there unlawfully, knowingly, and feloniously further falsely pretend and fraudulently represent that a certain paper in print and writing, then and there produced and delivered to said George Dirmeyer, purporting to be a license, was a good and genuine license issued and signed by the proper authorities of the said city, authorizing said George Dirmeyer a bar and billiard-saloon in one establishment in said city from the first day of May, A. D. 1876, to the 31st day of December, eighteen hundred and seventy-six, whereas, in truth and in fact, he, the said Charles F. White, had no [607]*607power or authority to demand or collect the occupation tax for the city of Galveston; and whereas, in truth and in fact, the said paper in print and writing was not good and genuine, and duly issued by the proper authorities of the city of Galveston; all of which false pretenses and fraudulent representations he, the said Charles F. White, well knew to be false, and then and there by color and means of which said pretenses and fraudulent representations, the said George Dirmeyer believing them to be true and being deceived thereby, he, the said Charles F. White, then and there unlawfully, knowingly, designedly, and feloniously did obtain and acquire from said George Dirmeyer one hundred and seventy-five dollars. ” Then, after setting out the description and value and ownership of the different bills and denomination of money thus obtained, the indictment concludes as follows, viz.: “ With the intent then and there to appropriate the same to the use of him, the said Charles F. White, contrary,” etc.

Our statute provides that “ the certainty required in an indictment is such as will enable the accused to plead the judgment that may be given upon it in bar of any prosecution for the same offense. ” Pasc. Dig., art. 2865.

“ As a general rule it is sufficiently certain to describe an offense in an indictment in the language of the act creating the offense; but there are cases where more particularity is required, either from the obvious intention of the Legislature or from the application of known principles of law. Moffatt v. The State, 6 English (Ark.), 164; The People v. Taylor, 3 Denio, 91; The Commonwealth v. Stout, 7 B. Mon. 294; The Commonwealth v. Cook, 13 B. Mon. 149.” Portwood v. The State, 29 Texas, 47.

“ Certainty is as to the matter to be charged and the manner of charging it. The things necessary to the description of the crime must be stated. As to the matter charged, whatever circumstances are necessary to constitute the crime [608]*608imputed must be set out. It is otherwise when the crime alleged is such independently of the circumstances; for then they may aggravate, but cannot constitute, the offense. As to the manner of making the averments, in all cases those which are descriptions of the crime must be introduced upon the record by averments, in opposition to argument or inference. ” 2 Archb. Cr. Law, 40, 47; 1 Chitty’s Cr. Law, 281, 288; Rex v. Horne, Cowp. 682; Bush v. The Republic, 1 Texas, 160; Horan v. The State, 24 Texas, 162; Alexander v. The State, 29 Texas, 495.

In a word, “the facts constituting thé offense must be averred directly, forcibly, and with certainty, and not by way of inference and argument.” 1 Texas, 455; 1 Dutch. 384; The State v. Rowell, 28 Texas, 626. In treating of the sufficiency of pleading in charging a party with ‘6 obtaining goods under false pretenses,” where the rules are the same as under our statute for swindling, Mr. Bishop says, “the leading doctrine is that the indictment must state the particular pretense clearly, and with certainty and precision.” 2 Bishop’s Cr. Proc., 2d ed., sec. 166.

This learned author further says : “If the indictment sets out more pretenses than one, and a part of these pretenses are not sufficiently negatived, while others of them are, then, if those which are negatived cover all the requirements of the law, the rest may be rejected as surplusage, and the indictment will beheld good.” 2 Bishop’s Cr. Proc., 2d ed., sec. 169. Again: “ The indictment need not set forth all the pretenses which were actually used. It is sufficient if it alleges so much of them as may be necessary to constitute the statutory offense.” 2 Bishop’s Cr. Proc., 2d ed., sec. 170. And the proof need not cover all; if it establishes so much or so many of the false pretenses as constitute an offense, this is sufficient. 2 Bishop’s Cr. Proc., 2d ed., sec. 171. See, also, Whart. Cr. Law, 6th ed., secs. 2153, 2158.

[609]*609Now, let us apply these well-settled rules to the indictment in this case as above set out, and see whether it is sufficiently certain in its averments in charging the offense of swindling. It is insisted by appellant’s counsel, in their able brief, that the first ground in their motion to quash the indictment was well taken, the substance of which is that the alleged license, or “paper in print and in writing,” should have been set out in Imc verba. We are inclined to believe that, where a written instrument enters into the offense as a part or basis thereof, the better practice would be to set it out in extenso. In some of the decisions this has been held absolutely essential, as in the case of The State v. Green, 7 Wis. 676, where the defendant was charged with obtaining money by means of a certain draft for money which he falsely, claimed to have upon deposit. The court say: “His draft was the decisive inducement, the material representation, the real false pretense that caused them to part with their property, and, constituting the substantive part of the offense, should have been set forth in the indictment.” The general rule seems to be that, where something turned on the proper construction of the paper, then the instrument has been required to be set out. Rex v. Coulson, 1 Eng. Law Rep. 552; 2 Whart. Cr. Law, 6th ed., sec. 2152..

But, if a description of the written instrument, as to its tenor and effect, would answer the purpose, then we think the description given in the indictment in this case, in setting out the pretended license, is insufficient in not alleging that the said license purported to authorize George Dirmeyer to “ keep ” or “ carry on ” a bar and billiard-saloon. The word keep, carry on,

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Bush v. Republic of Texas
1 Tex. 455 (Texas Supreme Court, 1846)
Horan v. State
24 Tex. 161 (Texas Supreme Court, 1859)
State v. Powell
28 Tex. 626 (Texas Supreme Court, 1866)
Portwood v. State
29 Tex. 47 (Texas Supreme Court, 1867)
Alexander v. State
29 Tex. 495 (Texas Supreme Court, 1861)
State v. Philbrick
31 Me. 401 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1850)
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Johnson v. State
11 Ind. 481 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1859)
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Bluebook (online)
3 Tex. Ct. App. 605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-state-texapp-1878.