State ex rel. Hart v. Judge of First District Court

Citations

• 113 La. 654
• 37 So. 546
• 1904 La. LEXIS 688

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW — APPEAL—JURISDICTION OF SUPREME COURT — CITY COURT — TRIAL DE NOVO —CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.</p> <p>1. Defendant was prosecuted before the criminal court for violating Act No. 118, p. 181, St. 1888, which makes the slandering and defaming of persons of “good repute without a probable cause, a misdemeanor.”</p> <p>2. He was found guilty by the city court of Shreveport, and condemned to pay a fine of $1,-000, or to work two years on the public roads. He appealed to the district court. His appeal was dismissed on the ground that Act No. 29, p. 34, St. 1900, is unconstitutional.</p> <p>3. The organic law ordains that appeals may be taken in criminal cases where a law has been declared unconstitutional, or where a fine exceeding $300 has been imposed, or imprisonment exceeding six months.</p> <p>4. The Constitution of 1898 vests appellate jurisdiction in the Supreme Court where a law has been declared unconstitutional, in civil and in criminal cases.</p> <p>5. When the Constitution said “all cases,” it meant to, and did, include all cases, civil or criminal.</p> <p>6. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction on the law where the fine imposed exceeds $300.</p> <p>7. There was no authority delegated to the Legislature to modify this jurisdiction, and vest the district court with jurisdiction on appeal from the city court — that is, it had no authority to authorize an appeal from the city court to •the district court, and, after decision in the latter court, authorize an appeal to the Supreme Court.</p> <p>8. Appeals from mayors or recorders are to be taken to the district court upon giving' security for fine and costs of courts, and the case is to be heard de novo in the district court on appeal. Const, art. 111.</p> <p>The article does .not include within its terms appeals from the city court.</p> <p>9. The mayor’s and recorder’s courts are different courts, with different jurisdictions. An article of the Constitution which authorizes legislation vesting the one cou