114 Ga. 533 | Ga. | 1902
The accused was tried in the city court of Elberton, upon an accusation based upon the Penal Code, § 314. The accusation, other than its merely formal parts, was in the following language: “For that the said Will Daniel did, in said [Elbert] county, on the 17th day of May, 1901, with force and arms, he, the said Will Daniel, having previously been convicted in the city court of Jefferson of the offense of simple larceny, the same being an offense below the grade of felony, and having on 23rd day of October, 1900, been by said court sentenced to pay a fine of 25 dollars and costs, or in default thereof to work in a chain-gang 12 months, and having been confined in the chain-gang of Elbert county to work out said sentence, unlawfully escape from the chain-gang of Elbert county, and was thereafter retaken; said escape being then and there contrary to the laws of said State,” etc. The accused demurred to the accusation, on the grounds, (1) that the act under which the accusation was sworn out, as amended in Acts of 1884 — 85, p. 52, is unconstitutional, because the amendatory act seeks to amend an act of the legislature by mere reference to the code section, without describing the act to be amended or giving the proposed alteration; (2) that the act is unconstitutional, because matter is contained in its body different from that expressed in its title; (3) that the original act under which the accusation was sued out requires an indictment for every case of escape, and the accusation against the accused is therefore illegal; (4) that the accusation failed to allege that the city court of Jefferson had jurisdiction, or was a proper tribunal to try the accused for the offense of simple larceny, and further failed to allege where the city court of Jefferson was located; (5) that the accusation failed to allege that the chain-gang in which the accused was confined was a legal place of confinement; (6) that the accusation failed to allege that the accused was legally sentenced to serve in a chain-gang, and the words of the accusation relative thereto do not set out a legal sentence; (7) that the city court of Elberton has no authority to try criminal cases of any kind, because the act creating the court failed to provide for an accusation therein to be based on affidavit; and (8) that section 26 of the act of 1896 (Acts 1896, p.293), establishing the city court of Elberton, is unconstitutional in that it does not give defendants in criminal cases due process of law. The demurrer was overruled; the case went to trial, andtfye accused was con
Judgment reversed.