63 Ala. 75 | Ala. | 1879
1. The indictment is certainly insufficient at common law; and would be insufficient under the statute (Code of 1876, § 4785), which requires that the facts constituting the offense shall be stated in ordinary and concise language, if it were not authorized expressly in its present form by the subsequent section of the Code — § 4810. Noles v. The State, 24 Ala. 672. There is great force in the argument of the counsel of appellant, against the constitutionality of statutes which authorize such vague and indefinite criminal accusations, not affording the accused reasonable information of the nature and cause of the accusation against him ; but we are not at liberty to regard the question as open for discussion and decision. Eor more than twenty-six years, after repeated argument and deliberation, in respect to all crimes, from the highest to the lowest in degree, indictments, founded on and sanctioned by such statutes, have been supported by this court, whenever their sufficiency was assailed; and we must be content to abide the results. It is the province of the legislature to interfere, and not of the courts, to disturb that which has been settled so long, and after so much of argument and deliberation.
3. The instructions given and refused by the court are not erroneous, in view of the evidence. It seems to have been an undisputed fact, that, for more than ten days, the road in the precinct of the defendant wTas in bad condition, or, in the words of the statute, out of repair. It had not been worked for ten days,’ with the hands apportioned to the defendant;
¥e find no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.