128 Ga. 265 | Ga. | 1907
In Jones v. Dannenberg Co., 112 Ga. 426, the record failed to disclose the nature of the offense charged, whether it was a felony or a misdemeanor, or whether it involved moral turpitude. In the absence of a specific allegation of the character of the offense, the court, in the progress of the opinion, reasoned the case out upon the assumption that the offense charged was a misdemeanor, ^and held that “it is both an illegal and an immoral act to make an agreement for a consideration to suppress the prosecution of a criminal offense, whether the offense be of the grade of felony or misdemeanor.” It is the policy of the law to punish all crime according to prescribed method. The public interest would not be subserved by allowing individuals to speculate or barter in the matter of enforcing the penal laws. The office of the prosecutor in a criminal case is of a public nature. It is one which, for the good of society, he volunteers to assume. After having assumed its duties, he ought not to abandon them for a consideration. His public duties constitute a trust and can not -be diverted to his private gain. If he attempts it, the law will not lend its countenance. The estoppel insisted upon in this case is equitable in its nature. It is a familiar rule that before one can invoke the aid of equity he must come with clean hands. The defendant being a party to the agreement to suppress the criminal prosecution, which, for the reasons already indicated, is immoral and contrary to public policy, it can not be said that he came into court with clean hands; and there being no other consideration upon which the deed was