Burbank v. State
Burbank v. State
Opinion of the Court
An indictment was returned against George and Will Burbank, charging them with a misdemeanor, “for that the said George Burbank and Will Burbank, in the county of Liberty and State of Georgia aforesaid, on the 22 day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and fifteen, with force and arms, did take fish with net on and from the waters of McQueen’s Creek where artificial shell-reef beds and fishing
Under the rulings of this court we think the judge should have sustained the first ground of the demurrer. It may be that McQueen’s Creek is a small and short one, and that all of the lands bordering on it are owned by the same person, but the indictment does not so allege. Of the size and length of the creek and the. owners of the adjacent lands the court cannot take judicial cognizance. The laws applicable to indictments must be so construed as to apply alike, to all indictments drawn under any particular section, and every indictment should be so definite in its allegations as to enable the person accused to prepare his defense. Suppose that McQueen's Creek was 50 miles long and there were 100 persons owning land which bordered on the creek, would it be insisted that an indictment was good against a special demurrer which alleged that the defendant was “not authorized by the proprietors of the shores of said McQueen’s Creek to take fish from the waters?” Would it not be an injustice to the defendant to require him to summon the 100 landowners or “proprietors,” to show by each that he did have his consent (if such were true) to
The headnote in Baker v. State, 19 Ga. App. 84 (90 S. E. 983), is as follows: “'An indictment charging a violation of section 18 of the act of 1911 (Acts of 1911, p. 144; Park’s Penal Code, § 594 (h)), in that in a certain county the accused unlawfully hunted without a license, on lands not his own, outside of a specified militia district therein, in which he resided, but which failed to allege in what militia district he hunted, is fatally defective.” 'The indictment in that case was under the acts of 1911, p. 144 (Park’s Penal Code, § 594 (h)), which declares'that “any person who shall hunt, without first obtaining a license, except upon his own land, or in his own militia district, . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” In the opinion Judge Wade said: “The mere allegation that the-hunting was done in the county of Camden elsewhere than in the 31st'Georgia militia district of that county, where the defendant resided, was not sufficient to put the accused on such notice that he could properly defend or be able to prepare for trial. Eor example, in a case of mistaken identity, under such an. indictment the accused might, be unable to procure witnesses in advance of trial who would be-able to establish for him a defense of alibi, though in point of fact there were witnesses who knew of their own knowledge that on the day fixed by the testimony for the State he was not actually in the particular militia district where, according to the State’s testimony, the crime charged in the= indictment was committed, because of their knowledge of his presence in another district, in a different' part of the county, far remote from the scene of the crime; though it would be otherwise if he had been put on proper notice by the indictment itself as to the particular militia district in which the alleged crime was by some one committed.” Applying the same process of reasoning to the instant case, it is easy to see why the indictment in this case should be more definite and name the owner of the shore. In this connection see also Morrow v. State, 17 Ga. App. 116 (86 S. E. 280), and Heard v. State, 4 Ga. App. 572 (61 S. E. 1055), and cases cited. The erroneous ruling of f:he' judge on the first ground of the demurrer rendered-the further proceedings nugatory. Grounds 2 and 3-of the demurrer are without merit.
■Judgment reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BURBANK v. State
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- Published