62 So. 306 | Ala. Ct. App. | 1913
To constitute the statutory offense with which the appellant was charged, his failure to work the public roads must have been willful, and without a sufficient excuse. — Code, § 7737; Ward v. State, 88 Ala. 202, 7 South. 298. The evidence was ■without conflict to the effect that at the time he failed and refused to work the public road, when duly notified or warned to do so, he was a minor over 18 years of age, and that his only excuse for such failure or refusal was that his father would not let him go, or permit him to work the public road. It is not claimed that the appellant’s excuse was a sufficient one; but the claim is that, under the evidence, it was a question for the jury whether his failure or refusal was “willful,” within the meaning of the statute, and that the court erred in giving the written charge requested by the state and in refusing those requested by the appellant.
It was a necessary inference from the evidence that the appellant intentionally and deliberately elected to obey his father rather than to heed the notice or warning given him. More than this was not required to make his conduct “willful” within the meaning of the statute. The word “willful,” when employed in penal enactments, has not always the same meaning. — Harrison v. State, 37 Ala. 154. Sometimes it means no more than that the act shall be intentionally done without lawful excuse or necessity. — Williams v. State, 83 Ala. 68,
No error is found in the record.
Affirmed.