120 Ga. 312 | Ga. | 1904
The accused was prosecuted under the provisions of the act approved August 15,1903 (Acts 1903, p. 90), which are set forth in the first headnóte. In Calhoun’s case, 119 Ga. 312, which was also a prosecution under this act, no question as to the constitutionality of the act was raised, but attention was there called to the fact that the legislation was probably the result of prior decisions of this court under the laws in reference to cheating and swindling. In addition to the cases cited in Calhoun’s case, see Edge v. State, 114 Ga. 113. In the present case the accusation was demurred to on the ground that the act provided for imprisonment for debt; and if this objection is well taken, the act is void. Civil Code, § 5718. If the act prescribes a punishment for a simple violation of a contractual obligation, it is beyond the power of the General Assembly. But if its purpose is to punish for fraudulent and deceitful practices, it is valid, even though the fraud or deceit may arise from the failure to comply with a contractual engagement. Fraudulent practices which resulted in one obtaining the money or property or another were, in a number of instances, denounced as crimes by the common law; and by statute both in England and in this country a number of such practices have been declared to be crimes, although the particular practice was not embraced within the definition of any common-law offense. The righ't of the lawmaking power to declare fraudulent practices a crime does not seem to have ever been seriously questioned. The various sections embraced in the chapter of our Penal Code which deals with the subject of cheats and swindlers show that not only are many of the fraudulent practices which
Judgment affirmed.