Hornstein v. United States
Opinion of the Court
Charles Hornstein, plaintiff in error, was convicted of the crime of gambling after trial upon information filed in the United States Commissioner’s Court for the District of Alaska. To the information Hornstein filed a demurrer and plea in abatement, raising the point that the United States Commissioner had no jurisdiction over an offense committed within the incorporated limits of the town of Nome, District of Alaska, where the alleged crime was
The statute of Alaska under which the information was filed reads as follows: “That each and every person who shall deal, play, or carry on, open or cause to be opened, or who shall conduct, either as owner, proprietor or employee whether for hire or not, any game of faro, monte, roulette, rouge et noir, lansquenet, rondo, vingt-un, twenty-one, poker, draw poker, bragg, bluff, thaw, craps, or any banking or other device whether the game shall be played for money, checks, credit, or any other representative of value, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Congress passed an act, approved April 28, 1904, 33 Stat. 529, c. 1778, entitled “An act to amend and codify the laws, relating to municipal corporations,' in the District of Alaska.” Under this act, the town of Nome, a municipal corporation, passed an ordinance on August 1, 1904, making it a misdemeanor to gamble. This ordinance was in effect at the time of the filing of the information against the plaintiff in error.
The principal contention of the plaintiff in error is that the act to amend and codify the laws relating to municipal corporations in the District of Alaska, approved April 28, 1904, repealed the act of Congress of March 3, 1899, 30 Stat. 1253, c. 429, entitled “An act to define and punish crimes in the District of Alaska,” in so far as the said act of March 3, 1899, related to the offense of gambling, where said offense is committed within the limits of incorporated towns, and where such incorporated towns have enacted ordinances defining the offense of gambling, and where such ordinances are in force, as in the case of the city of Nome. The legal question involved is the same as that presented and decided in the case of Mose Rosencranz v. United States, 155 Fed. 38, and the conclusion there reached, that Congress under the act of April 28, 1904, c. 1778, 33 Stat. 529, did not intend to yield its authority over the subjects of gambling and other offenses enumerated, must control here. The argument that by the act of
Plaintiff in error also contends that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury in writing when requested by the defendant. Section 137 of the Penal Code of Alaska provides:
Subd. 5. “When the evidence is concluded, either party may request instructions to the jury on points of law, which shall be given or refused by the court; which instructions shall be reduced to writing if either party request it.”
Subd. 7. “The court, after the argument is concluded, shall immediately, and before proceeding with other business, charge the jury; which charge, or any charge, given after the conclusion of the argument, shall be reduced to writing by the court, if either party request it before the argument of the trial is commenced; such charge or charges, or any other charge or instructions provided for in this section, when so written and given, shall in no case be orally qualified, modified, or in any manner explained to the jury by the court; and all written charges and instructions shall be taken by the jury in their retirement, and returned with their verdict into court, and shall remain on file with papers of the case.”
The bill of exceptions does not show that the plaintiff in error requested the court to charge the jury in writing; but sets forth that the counsel for the plaintiff in error, just before the government rested its case, requested the court “in charging the jury to charge the jury according
We find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- HORNSTEIN v. UNITED STATES
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