State v. Blakely
State v. Blakely
Opinion of the Court
This is an action commenced before a justice of the peace of Hooker township, La-clede county, against George Blakely, under section 9454, Revised Statutes 1899, for wilfully and knowingly obstructing a public road, known, as the Lebanon and Jugtown road, in that county. On the trial of the case before the court defendant was found guilty and fined ten dollars. A motion for new trial was filed and overruled. No exception ivas saved to the action of the
Section 9454 provides that “if any person or persons shall wilfully or knowingly obstruct any public road by . . . fencing across or upon the right of way of the same, ... or shall obstruct said road or higlnvays in any other manner Avhatsoever, he or they shall each pay a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, to be recovered by indictment or by information. Any person who shall obstruct any public road by any of the means in this section named or other Avise, and shall fail or refuse, Avithin five days after being notified by the road overseer of the district in which the obstructed road lies, requiring him or them to remove the same shall pay the sum of five dollars for each and every day he or they shall maintain such obstruction or permit the
We take occasion to call attention to a defect in the transcript, in that it fails to set out the finding and judgment of the trial court in full. It merely states that “the court then found the defendant guilty and assessed his punishment at a fine of ten dollars; upon said finding judgment was duly rendered.” That is not a correct way to set out the finding and judgment. It should have been set out in the transcript exactly as of record. Apart from this the transcript is exceptionally good, being carefully indexed and arranged in proper form.
In order to avoid possible trouble over this case in the future, we think it well to call attention to the fact that the claim seems to be made that the road had become a public road by having been constantly used by the public for more than twenty years. It appears that the land was entered under homestead entry by the defendant and that a patent was issued to him the 16th of September, 1904. The. court, among other instructions, gave this: “The court declares the law to be that the government, by a sale of a part of its land for settlement and cultivation, by implication, grants the right to the people living in said com
The judgment is reversed and the defendant discharged.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.