City of New Orleans v. Chappuis

Citations

• 105 La. 179

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>1. A party charged with crime is entitled to be fairly informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. There is a class of cases where, by reason of the special nature of the offense, the charge may be general, but in such cases the court, or the party, may require the prosecuting officer to furnish the defendant with a bill of particulars showing the particular facts relied on.</p> <p>2. Parties sentenced to fine or imprisonment under a municipal ordinance have the right to have the legality and constitutionality of the ordinance tested in the Supreme Court and to have matters placed in the lower court in such shape as to enable the appellate court to have the issue properly presented The supervisory powers of the Supreme Court can, in proper cases, be invoked to secure that right.</p> <p>3. The Supreme Court is not authorized on an appeal to it from a sentence of fine and imprisonment under a municipal ordinance to reverse the judgment for an error in the decision of the facts upon which are dependent not the legality or constitutionality of the ordinance, but the guilt or innocence of the accused under the ordinance.</p> <p>4. Where, on an appeal to the Supreme Court from a sentence of fine and imprisonment under a municipal ordinance the record discloses the existence in the lower court of an issue upon which the sentence could be made to rest independently of any question as to the legality and constitutionality of the ordinance and evidence under that issue supporting the sentence, the appeal will be dismissed.</p> <p>5. A criminal law is not to be pronounced unconstitutional merely because by following literally its broad and general terms acts perfectly legal might be made the subject-matter of a criminal accusation. The proper course is to read out of the purview of the law matters clearly not Intended to fall under it. (State vs. Keasley, 50 Ann. 761.)</p> <p>6. A charge of unconstitutionality directed as a whole against