109 Ga. 107 | Ga. | 1899
Holliman was tried in the police court of Hawkinsville for “the offense of doing business without a license.” Upon conviction he entered an appeal to the council of the city. The case came on to be tried before the mayor pro tern, and the other members of the council, the mayor, who presided in the police court, not participating as a member of the court on the trial; and the accused was again convicted. He
The law declares that the certificate of the ordinary that a soldier is disabled or indigent shall be “sufficient proof” of these facts. The certificate of the ordinary is certainly prima facie evidence of these facts. As two of the certificates introduced by the accused stated unequivocally that he was a disabled Confederate soldier, there was before the court prima facie evidence, at least, to show that the accused was entitled to the exemption claimed by him. The law does not require that the disability should have resulted from service in the Confederate army, and therefore it was not necessary that the certificate should state this fact. There was no evidence whatever to contradict the statements made in the certificates of the ordinary to the effect that the accused was a Confederate soldier and
■It was contended by counsel for the defendant in error that, even conceding that the accused was a disabled Confederate soldier, as the evidence showed that he was conducting a business as a merchant both in the city of Dublin and in the city of Hawkinsville, and as the privilege of conducting business without a license, given by the law to disabled Confederate soldiers, was personal and could not be carried on by agents, the conviction was proper. Whether this position is well taken or not it is not necessary for us to decide in this case, as no such question was raised in the municipal court; the answer of the mayor pro tern, to the petition for certiorari distinctly stating that “there was no issue made or tried except as to whether or not he was exempt from paying tax by reason of being [a] disabled or indigent Confederate soldier, and, there being no evidence to show that he was either, he was adjudged guilty.”
Judgment reversed.