Thompson v. City of Sandersville
Thompson v. City of Sandersville
Opinion of the Court
The defendant was charged with a violation of a municipal ordinance of the City of Sandersville reading as follows: “It shall be unlawful for any person, persons, firm or corporation, to run, operate or maintain or knowingly permit the running, operating or maintaining in the City of
Code § 26-6103 provides misdemeanor punishment for any person “who shall keep and maintain, either by himself or others, a common, ill-governed, and disorderly house, to the encouragement of idleness, gaming, drinking, or other misbehavior, or to the common disturbance of the neighborhood or orderly citizens.” It is obvious that the city ordinance and the State statute operate upon identical subject matter, which has thus been pre-empted by the latter. “Where a municipal penal ordinance and a public criminal statute operate upon the same set of physical acts, the municipal ordinance is invalid unless the offense created by it contains some characterizing ingredient not contained in the offense under the State law.” Cotton v. City of Atlanta, 10 Ga. App. 397 (1) (73 SE 683). See also Hannah v. State, 97 Ga. App. 188 (102 SE2d 624); Trowbridge v. Dominy, 92 Ga. App. 177 (88 SE2d 161); Smith v. State, 88 Ga. App. 749 (77 SE2d 764); Sloan v. City of Moultrie, 61 Ga. App. 885 (7 SE2d 760); Alexander v. City of Atlanta, 13 Ga. App. 354 (79 SE 177); Dannie v. City of Atlanta, 10 Ga. App. 471 (73 SE 684). The ordinance under which the defendant was convicted was accordingly void.
The Judge of the Superior Court of Washington County erred in overruling defendant’s certiorari complaining of her conviction in the Recorder’s Court of the City of Sandersville.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.