114 S.W.2d 5 | Ark. | 1938
Appellees, there being seven of them, were each charged in the municipal court of the city of Hope, Hempstead county, with "driving and operating a motor truck with a load in excess of that permitted by the law." Some of them were charged with other violations of the law in driving or operating their respective trucks.
Upon a hearing in the municipal court, R. D. Barham, T. A. Goheen, J. T. McAdams, Jr., H. D. Mann, Roy Ward, Trosey Formby and D. L. McDonald were each fined $10 for driving and operating a motor truck with a load in excess of that permitted by law and D. L. McDonald was also fined $10 on account of a faulty tail light, $1 for improper marking on the truck and $1 for not having a muffler on the truck.
Each of the appellees appealed from the judgments of conviction to the circuit court of Hempstead county, where the cases were consolidated for purposes of trial, and upon a hearing of the consolidated cases the circuit court instructed a verdict of not guilty in favor of appellees, and rendered a judgment thereon discharging them, from which the state of Arkansas has duly prosecuted an appeal to this court.
The record reflects that all of the appellees had 1 1/2-ton trucks and 1 1/2-ton licenses on them and that Barham had a 1 1/2-ton license on his trailer and that each was hauling the following loads: Formby 8,400 pounds, McAdams, 5,900 pounds, Mann 6,700 pounds, Ward 5,100 pounds, Goheen 5,300 pounds, McDonald 11,735 pounds and Barham 15,460 pounds on truck and trailer. All the trucks had 32x6 single tires on front wheels and all of them had 32x6 dual tires on rear wheels, and the trailer had the same kind of tires as the trucks. With this character of tires they had a load capacity of about 12,000 pounds each. No proof was introduced upon any of the other charges, but was directed to the charge of driving *748 and operating motor trucks with a load in excess of that permitted by law.
There is no disputed question of fact in these cases. The only question involved on this appeal is whether one can procure a 1 1/2 ton license on a truck equipped to carry a much larger load than 3,000 pounds and use the same on the highways of this state in carrying loads greatly in excess of 3,000 pounds. The only statute regulating the amount to be paid by those operating trucks on the highways of the state is act 65 of the Acts of 1929 and amendments thereto. Subsection (N) of 24 of said act makes it unlawful for any person to operate a motor truck on the highways of this state without having paid the license fee required by the act. This act was construed by our court in the case of Commercial Warehouse v. State,
The court erred in instructing a verdict for appellees and rendering a judgment discharging them. The judgment is, therefore, reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.