Mississippi Supreme Court, 1898

State v. Wiley

Mississippi Supreme Court · Decided November 15, 1898 · Whitfield

76 Miss. 282

Cases that cite this one

2 later published cases cite this decision.

Duncan v. United States (9th Cir. 1931)
Brendle v. City of Houston (Miss. Ct. App. 2000)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Whitfield, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The court erred in striking out the words set out as having been stricken from the instruction for the state. Says the court *283in Gaines v. State, 40 Am. Rep., 64, 65, through'the learned Judge Cooper: “It is not absolutely necessary that the name of the deity should be used ”—That is, to constitute profanity— “any words importing an imprecation of divine vengeance, or implying divine condemnation, so used as to constitute a public nuisance, would suffice.” Citing cases. See, to the same effect, 2 Bish. New Grim, Law, sec. 79 (1), and 2 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (1st ed.), p. 424, the note where the authorities are collated. The very words here stricken out were held to constitute profanity in Holcomb v. Cornish, 8 Conn., 375.

The court, therefore, erred in its holding as to what constituted profanity.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.