130 Ga. 542 | Ga. | 1908
(After stating the facts.)
The statute involved in this case is exceedingly drastic. In its amended form, the first section of the act provides, that “when the relation of employer and employee, or of landlord and tenant of agricultural lands, or of landowner and cropper, has been created by written contract, or^by parol contract partly performed, made in the presence of one or more witnesses, it shall be unlawful for any person during the life of said contract, made and entered into in the manner above described, to employ, or rent lands-to, or furnish lands to be cropped by said employee, or to disturb' in any way, said relation, without first obtaining the written consent of said employer, landlord or landowner, as the case may be.”' The second section provides that “any person violating the provisions of the foregoing section shall, at the option of the party alleged to have been injured, be prosecuted for a misdemeanor, and upon conviction punished as provided in section 1039 of the Penal Code,, or he shall be liable in damages to said alleged injured party, as-follows: (1) In case of employer and employee, the damages shall not be less than double the amount of wages or salary for the entire period of said contract. (2) In case of landlord and tenant, or of landowner and cropper, the damages shall not be less-than double the annul rental value of the lands rented or cropped, said value to be fixed at 1,000 pounds of lint cotton to the plough.”' Acts 1901, p. 63; Acts 1903, p. 91. It will be seen, from these-provisions, that the act is not only in derogation of the- common law, but is essentially a penal statute. It creates a new offense- and provides for its punishment, but leaves it optional- with the-party injured to prosecute the violator of the statute for- a misdemeanor, or to sue him for damages, and, in the event the injured party adopts the latter course, arbitrarily fixes the amount of damages to be recovered, regardless of the amount of damages actually sustained. So that whether the criminal prosecution or the civil action for damages is pursued, the result, in the event of a conviction in the one or a recovery in the other, is the infliction of a penalty upon the defendant. That the purpose of the act was, in
Judgment affirmed.