Granger v. StateGranger v. State
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This was a prosecution for stealing a cow. The principal ground urged for a reversal is that the act of the legislature of 1895, under which the defendant was con*353victed, is unconstitutional and void. The act in question is chaptеr 77, Laws, 1895 (Criminal Code, sec. 117a), and reads as follows:
“An act to punish cattle stealing and to punish persons reсeiving or buying stolen cattle, and to punish all persons harboring or concealing cattle thieves.
“Be it Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska:
“Sectiоn 1. If any person shall steal any cow, steer, bull, or calf, of any value, or if any person shall receive оr buy any cow, steer, bull, or calf, that shall have been stolen, knowing the same to have been stolen, with intent by such rеceiving or buying to defraud the owner, * * * or if any person shall conceal any cow, steer, bull, or calf, knowing the same to have been stolen, every such persоn so offending shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than ten, nor Jess than one year.”
It is suggested in the brief that this “act is a vicious one, and possesses no point whereby it impresses the court to uphold it.” We cannоt yield assent to the proposition; nevertheless, if it be true that the law is not a wise one, it is no reason why the сourts should declare it invalid. The argument made by counsеl against the statute under consideration would have bеen more appropriate were it addressed to the lawmaking body, as the constitution has not confеrred upon this court the power to repeal lаws, but the autliority to interpret and enforce them in prоper cases.
It is insisted that the act referred to is rеpugnant to section 11, article 3, of the constitution, which declares that “no bill shall contain more than one subject, and the same shall be clearly expressed in its title.” • The object of the law is’ single. The act makes thе stealing of cattle a crime and provides a penalty for the same. All the provisions of the law are germane to the subject of legislation, — cattle stealing. Whether there is any merit in the suggestion that there is nothing in thе title to the act to warrant the provision in the body of the law mak*354ing it a crime to conceal any cоw, knowing the same to have been stolen, it is unnecessаry to determine, since the defendant has not been convicted of that offense. The act under consideration is not amendatory of sections 114, 119, and 120 of the Criminal Code, but it defines a new crime and prescribes a рenalty therefor. (State v. Arnold, 31 Neb., 75; Brown v. State, 33 Neb., 354; 34 Neb., 448.)
Lastly, it is urged that this prosecution was. under a special law, and the information is defective, for the reason it failed to mention said statute. The only answer which need be made to this, contention is that thе act of 1895 is not a special law, but is general in its scope and purpose, hence it was not required to be pleaded and proven. The judgment is
Affirmed.