23 Fla. 281 | Fla. | 1887
delivered the opinion of the court:
In October, 1884, McLean and Pearson were indicted for larceny in stealing one cow of the value of twenty-five dollars. They were tried in March, 1886, and the jury found them guilty, and the value of the property ten dollars.
They moved in arrest of judgment, “because the verdict of the jury finds the value of the heifer stolen * * ten dollars which makes the taking petit larceny and cognizable by a Justice’s Court, and that this court has no juris
The indictment charges a felony in that the defendants “ with force and arms at and in the county of Hillsborough aforesaid one cow of the value of twenty-five dollars, * * then and there being found, feloniously did steal, take and carry away, contraiy,” &c., &c.
Justices of the Peace have no jurisdiction to try felonies. In cases of larceny, not charged as a second offence, where the value of the property stolen does not exceed twenty dollars, they have jurisdiction by statute. McG. Dig., page 662, § 1. Section 15, article 6, of the Constitution, authorizes the Legislature to fix the power of Justices of the Peace in criminal cases, as follows: “ in criminal cases their power shall be fixed by law. Their powers, duties and responsibilities shall be regulated by law.” In section 8 of the same article, Circuit Courts are given original jurisdiction “ of all criminal cases, except such as may be cognizable by law by inferior courts.”
Section 1 of chapter 32T1 of Laws, approved February é, 1881, especially provides that when any person is tried in any Circuit Court of this State for an offence of which such Circuit Court has original jurisdiction, and such person is found to be guilty of any lesser offence included in the offence for which indictment or information is filed against him, and for which he is being tried, and is not found guilty of the greater offence, he may be convicted in
Ex parte Donahue, 65 Cal., 474; State vs. Reaves, 85 N. C., 553; State vs. Pat Malloy, 30 La. Ann., 61; Ingle vs. The State, 4 Texas Ct. App., 91; Montgomery vs. The State, 4 Texas Ct. App., 140; Harberger vs. The State, Ib., 26; People vs. Holland, 59 Cal., 364.