103 Ga. 428 | Ga. | 1898
Sallie Grier was indicted for the offense of criminal trespass. The material portion of the indictment was
This indictment was evidently predicated upon par. 2 of section 219 of the Penal Code, which provides that “ The taking and carrying away, or attempting to take and carry away, any article, or property of any value whatever, from the land, inclosed or uninclosed, of another, without the consent of the owner,” shall be deemed and held to be trespass, and indictable. This is the codification of paragraph 2 of the act of 1866 (Acts 1865-6, p. 237), which makes an indictable trespass “The taking and carrying away, or attempting to take and carry away, any timber, wood, rails, fruit, vegetables, corn, cotton, or any other article, thing, produce, or property of any value whatever, from the land, inclosed or uninclosed, of another, without the consent of the owner.” This act, after the enumeration of certain things, adds “or any other article, thing, produce, or property of any value whatever,” but it is a well-settled rule of construction that where a statute enumerates by name certain specific things and concludes with a general term of enlargement, this latter term is construed as being ejusdem generis with the things named. The codifiers have omitted the names of the specific articles, and to ascertain the meaning and intention of the legislature we must look to the original act. The rule just above stated, that a general term, following a specific enumeration, is held to be restricted to things of the same kind as those enumerated, is valuable as a means of arriving at legislative intent; and in the present case such intent
For these reasons, we think the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the indictment. As the demurrer should have •been sustained, the trial and conviction upon the indictment were void and of no effect.
Judgment reversed*