State v. Cucullu

Citations

• 110 La. 1087
• 35 So. 300
• 1903 La. LEXIS 754

Syllabus

<p>STATUTES — ENACTMENT — CRIMINAL LAW — PUNISHMENT — MISDEMEANOR—DESERTION OF WIFE — CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.</p> <p>1.An attack upon the constitutionality of an act which has been signed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Lieutenant Governor and President of the Senate, approved by the signature of the Governor of the-state, certified to by the Secretary of State, and published among the acts of the General Assembly of the state, on the ground that the language of its enacting clause declared that it had been “enacted by the General Assembly,” instead of “by the General Assembly of the state of Louisiana,” in the exact words of the Constitution, is not well founded.</p> <p>2. An act, in declaring punishment for its violation to be a fine not exceeding $100, or imprisonment in the parish jail not exceeding one year, or both, fixes both a minimum and a maximum penalty to the crime; the minimum penalty as to fine being the least amount of money recognized by law, and, as to imprisonment, the least recognized subdivision of time.</p> <p>3. There is no provision in the Constitution withdrawing from the General Assembly the power and authority to constitute a misdemeanor the desertion by a husband of his wife without just cause, or the willful neglect of a husband or father to provide for the support of his wife and children, who are in destitute or necessitous circumstances.</p> <p>4. A party accused of the violation of a statute is without interest to attack certain of its provisions which are entirely in the interest of accused parties, and left, as to their application, to their own consent.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>