State v. Carroll

Citations

• 30 S.C. 85
• 8 S.E. 433
• 1889 S.C. LEXIS 68

Syllabus

<p>1. Under a statute which prohibits “the habitual carnal intercourse with each other, without living together, of a man and woman, when either is lawfully married to some other person,” the judge correctly charged that the carnal intercourse must be more than occasional, but properly declined to define “habitual carnal intercourse,” and left it to the jury to say how frequent the act must be to make it “habitual.”</p> <p>2. Two parties were jointly indicted for adultery, but only one of them was arrested. Held, that the party arrested might be tried separately and alone, and his conviction is legal.</p> <p>3. Resolutions passed at a public meeting and communicated to defendant, and his written response thereto, may be received in evidence against defendant as his admission of the offence charged.</p> <p>4. Defendant signed this letter, after being told by the person who presented it to him for signature, that the presenter thought it was best for defendant to sign, and if he did, the threat of his expulsion from the community would be dropped. Defendant then signed under protest, saying that he did so to protect his family. Held, that the letter was not obtained under duress.</p> <p>5. The words, “without living together,” in this statute are not elements in the offence of adultery, and therefore their omission from the indictment furnishes no ground for an arrest of judgment.</p>