179 S.E. 810 | W. Va. | 1935
The petitioner herein was acquitted before a justice upon a charge of operating an automobile on the public road while intoxicated, in violation of Code, 17-8-25. He was arraigned later before the State Road Commission under Code,
The remedy of prohibition is preventive rather than corrective. Town v. County Court,
The charge against petitioner before the justice and the *229
charge against him before the Commission are not identical. While dangerous operation of an automobile is frequently coincident with intoxication, the former is not dependent upon the latter, and may be induced by other causes. So, an acquittal of intoxication is not necessarily an acquittal of dangerous operation. Moreover, the rule pronounced in theCoffey case is the minority rule. See Annotation 31 A.L.R. 275. The Coffey case was differentiated by the Supreme Court itself in the later case of Stone v. U.S.,
Consequently, the acquittal by the justice did not affect the jurisdiction of the Commission, and the writ is refused.
Writ refused. *230