Shirley Ann Monk v. State
Shirley Ann Monk v. State
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting:
The controlling opinion concludes that the decree of the Youth Court of Scott County, committing appellant to the Mississippi Industrial School as a delinquent child, is invalid because the record does not reflect the trial court had jurisdiction of the minor by a voluntary appearance with her parents. The Court holds by inference that the two adult appellants, parents of the minor, appeared before the court and were subject to its jurisdiction. However, I cannot agree that the minor was not properly within the jurisdiction of the Youth Court. In my opinion, the record reflects the contrary.
Miss. Code 1942, Sec. 7185-06, provides for personal service of process upon the parents and the minor, not less than three days before the date set for hearing, “unless service of summons be waived by voluntary appearance as hereinafter set forth.” The second paragraph of Sec. 7185-06 then states: ‘ ‘ and in case of voluntary appearance before the date set for the hearing, the court may, in its discretion, proceed to a hearing at any time after said petition has been filed, regardless of the date set for the hearing. In case a parent or guardian of such child, or the custodian of such child, if a parent or guardian cannot be located, appear before the court with the child without the service of summons on either of them, including the child, or being present in court with the child after service of summons on either of them, and make no objection to the process or lack of process, the court shall have the right to proceed to the hearing of the case the same as if summons had been served on each of them; and any irregularities in the issuance or services of process on either of them shall not deprive the court of jurisdiction of the child and the right to proceed to a hearing.”
In brief, if the parents appear before the court with the child the Youth Court may proceed to the hearing without service of summons. The record clearly reflects that these statutory requirements for jurisdiction
On April 7, 1959, the Chancellor and the Youth Court Judge entered a decree reciting the petition had been reset for hearing before the court, and it came on for hearing on “oral evidence”. The decree further states: ‘ ‘ and the minor child, Shirley Ann Monk, and her father and mother, Bob Monk and Hassie Comans Monk, having appeared before the court in person, and the Court finds and adjudicates that it has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter, and that Shirley Arm Monk, a white female child, is a delinquent child within the meaning of the statute.
“It is, therefore, ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the said minor child, Shirley Ann Monk, he and she is hereby committed to the Mississippi Industrial Training School,____”
In summary, on March 17 the parents and the minor appeared before the Court. The parents requested the court to investigate the matter and the cause was set for hearing three weeks later. On April 7, the chancellor
It is also significant that appellants failed to bring up on appeal a transcript of the testimony upon which the trial court acted. In the absence of it, all reasonable presumptions in favor of the court’s jurisdiction should be indulged and applied.
Moreover, although the Youth Court has a particular jurisdiction, it has exclusive, original jurisdiction in all proceedings concerning any delinquent or neglected child, except in capital cases. Code Sec. 7185-03; Wheeler v. Shoemake, 213 Miss. 374, 57 So. 2d 267 (1952); Lee v. State, 214 Miss. 740, 59 So. 2d 338 (1952). The Legislature directed that the act should be liberally construed to the end that each child coming within the jurisdiction of the court “shall receive such care, guidance and control ... as will conduce to the child’s welfare and the best interest of the state ...” Code See. 7185-26. So it seems to me that the controlling opinion adopts an unrealistic and hypercritical attitude toward the facts evidenced by the two decrees of the chancery court, sitting as a Youth Court.
The controlling opinion states, obiter, that a Youth Court proceeding “is not criminal, it is quasi-criminal,” citing Bryant v. Brown, 151 Miss. 398, 118 So. 184 (1928). That case did not deal with the Juvenile Court Act of 1946, but was concerned with the limited provisions of Miss. Laws 1916, Ch. 111. Moreover, the decision in Bryant was placed squarely on the ground that a proceeding for commitment of a delinquent child to a training school is a civil and not a criminal proceeding. This is uniformly the law both here and elsewhere, and has been expressly adjudicated by this Court with particular reference to the Youth Court Act of 1946 in at least two cases. Wheeler v. Shoemake, supra; Lee v. State, supra. However, the present decision, as I construe it, is limited to the holding that the decree does not recite a voluntary appearance by the minor with her parents. My disagreement with that conclusion is based upon the facts and findings in the two decrees entered by the Youth Court of Scott County. They bring the court’s jurisdiction within the statute.
Opinion of the Court
The Chancery Court of Scott County, Mississippi, by judgment dated April 7, 1959, ordered that Shirley Ann Monk, a minor female, not quite sixteen years of age, be committed to the custody of the Mississippi Industrial Training School until she should become twenty-one years of age, or be previously paroled. Prom that order the infant and her parents prosecute this appeal. They raise a number of questions on the appeal but we deem it necessary to decide only two of them.
They first say the court had no jurisdiction of the minor. They draw that conclusion from these circumstances: No personal notice of this hearing was had upon the parents or the minor. They did appear in court, but nowhere in the record is it shown that the appearance of the minor was voluntary. Section 7185-06, Miss. Code of 1942, Annotated, requires that, in the absence of personal service of process, the appearance of the minor and the parents shall be voluntary. It is recited in the committal order that the court had jurisdiction of the parties, but in this proceeding that is a conclusion
The second contention which we decide is that the chancellor had no authority to confine the minor in the Industrial Training School until she becomes twenty-one years of age; that the limit of time vested in the court by the statute is the twentieth birthday of the infant. The contention is well taken, Section 7185-09 so limits the confinement.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
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- Shirley Ann Monk, a Minor, Etc., v. State
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