Seal v. State

Citations

• 21 Miss. 286

Syllabus

<p>All laws against gaming being declared by statute to be remedial and not penal, a strict construction will not be applied to them.</p> <p>The caption to the record of a conviction for gaming recited that “ the ventre being returned into court executed by the sheriff, the following named jurors appeared and answered to their names, to wit, &c., whereupon the following named persons of the same were duly drawn, elected and empanelled, sworn, and charged, as a grand jury for the term : ” it was held, that the proceedings showed with sufficient certainty, in a case of conviction for gaming where only reasonable certainty is required, that the indictment was found by good and lawful jurors of the county, especially as no plea was interposed to the panel.</p> <p>The record, in its caption, stated that the proceedings took place “ in the circuit court of Harrison county, at a regular term thereof, begun and held at the court-house of said county in Mississippi city, on the first Monday in March, 1848 : ” Held, that the recital was amply sufficient to show the term of the court, and the house in which it was held.</p> <p>A prisoner convicted of gaming moved for a new trial on the ground that one of the jury who tried him was an alien, and read the juryman’s affidavit to that effect, but did not himself make oath that he was not aware of this disqualification of the juror at the time of his selection: Held, that if he knew of the disqualification at the time, he waived it by not making the objection, and should therefore have, if he did not know it, made oath to that effect; for want of which the new trial was properly refused.</p>