17 Ala. 369 | Ala. | 1850
The indictment against the plaintiffs in error contains two counts: The first is for playing at cards at a public place; the second for playing at cards in an out-house, where people resort. The plaintiffs in error were convicted, and it appears by the bill of exceptions that the playing took place in a room that had been vacant until within a few days of the time of the playing, when one McLain obtained permission to occupy it temporarily as a shoe-maker’s shop, where, not having a family, he cooked his meals and slept on the floor; that on the night of the playing, which was during a term of the Circuit Court, ten or twelve persons were engaged there in playing at cards, among whom were the plaintiffs in error. According to some of the evidence, the door was slant and latched inside, but any one acquainted with the room could open the door from the outside. It appeared that some persons, to the number of five or six, came to the door during the playing and applied for admission, and that they were refused. But it also appeared that many persons passed in and out during the time of the playing, and that most persons were admitted on being recognised. The Circuit Court on the trial was requested to charge that a public place was a place where the public had a right to go, and to charge also that if the jury believed that as many as five or six persons were denied admittance to the room at the time of the playing, it could not be a public place. The court refused to give either of these charges.
We think the Circuit Court should not have charged the jury that a public place was a place where the public had a right to
Let the judgment be affirmed.