Countz v. State
Countz v. State
Opinion of the Court
The defendants were indicted for retailing spirituous liquors in quantities less than one quart without having obtained a license therefor. The indictment was framed in accordance with the terms of the 'law of 1856. (O. & W. Dig., art. 423, p. 509.)
It was filed in court on the 3d day of July, 1873, and charged the offense to have been committed on the 15th of February, 1873.
Defendants excepted to the indictment as insufficient, because it did not charge an offense. The exception was overruled, and the defendants were tried, convicted, and fined fifty dollars.
They moved for a new trial, which being overruled, they gave notice of appeal and entered into a recognizance, with sureties.
The exception to the indictment should have been sustained.
The act of 1856, under which the indictment was found, was changed by the act of 1866 as to the penalty; that act raising the minimum fine from fifty to one hundred dollars, and authorizing the imprisonment of the party convicted. (Acts of 1866, p. 68, sec. 5.)
The act of December 1, 1871, provides that “ every person or member of a firm or corporation, subject to the payment of an occupation tax, who shall neglect or fail, after having been duly notified by any officer charged with the collection of said occupation tax, to comply with any one of the several provisions of an act entitled ‘An act to give effect to the several provisions of the Constitution concerning taxes,’ approved April 22,1871, concerning occupation tax, shall be .deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction on indictment or information, be punished by a fine not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars.” (Acts of 2d sess. of 1871, p. 52; also same in Pas. Dig., art. 6473.)
This act was evidently intended to supplant the former acts of 1856 and 1866, because it embraces the same matter and changes the grounds of prosecution in relation thereto.
It makes the offense to consist in the failure to pay the occupation tax after having been duly notified by the collecting officer.
It drops the provision about a license entirely. The tax
Judgment reversed and cause dismissed.
Reversed and dismissed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Charles Countz and Charles Bowles v. State
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Retailing spirituous liquor, statute concerning.—The acts of 1856 and 1866, both of which prescribed a penalty for retailing spirituous liquors in quantities less than a quart without, having obtained a license therefor, were, as to such penalties, supplanted by the act of December 1,1871, which prescribed a different penalty for those, subject to the payment of an occupation tax, who failed to pay the same, and by the tax law of 1873, which made the receipt of the sheriff and county treasurer full authority to carry on the business.