121 Ga. 619 | Ga. | 1905
(After stating the foregoing facts.) The right to be at large without the right to act would be but to live in a prison of extended bounds. The liberty which is guaranteed by the constitution means far more than freedom from servitude. An integral and essential element is the right to use all one’s powers of mind and body, to engage in any lawful occupation upon such terms as he may choose, and to make contracts with other citizens who are as free as himself. 'Presumptively every one may agree upon the terms on which he will sell his own property or buy that of another. This right can only be limited and made penal by necessity of preserving the public health, the public morals, or the public safety, included in which would be the necessity of protecting the property of the public. Instances may be found in liquor laws; in statutes requiring the written consent of parents or friends before liquor or opium can be sold to certain persons; the requirement as to inspection of fertilizers, turpentine, flour; and similar statutes too numerous to mention. The act in
To require the State to prove the ownership, or to describe the ladd on which the cotton had been grown, would nullify the statute as completely as to declare it unconstitutional. There is no rule of pleading which requires a decision which would bring about such a result. The indictment follows the statute, and was not subject to the demurrer. Compare Penal Code, § 929; Hill v. Dalton, 72 Ga. 314 (1); Williams v. State, 89 Ga. 483. Judgment affirmed.