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Supreme Court of Kansas· 5/8/1920

State v. Foster

Citations

  • 106 Kan. 852
  • 189 P. 953
  • 1920 Kan. LEXIS 669

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Statutory Crimes — Penal Statutes Are Strictly Construed. A court cannot extend a criminal statute beyond the natural meaning of the words employed by the legislature, nor interpolate into it language necessary to hold persons liable for a public offense.</p> <p>2. Same — Failure to Plug Abandoned Oil Well — Operator Not Criminally Responsible. Under section 2 of chapter 161 of the Laws of 1891, the duty of plugging an abandoned oil well before drawing the casing therefrom is devolved alone upon the owner, and the operator cannot be held criminally responsible for a failure to observe the requirements prescribed in that section.</p>

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • The rule of strict construction simply means that ordinary words are to be given their ordinary meaning.

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Johnston

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