State v. Johnson

Citations

• 16 S.C. 187
• 1881 S.C. LEXIS 146

Syllabus

<p>1. One indicted under the act of 1880 (17 Stat. 447), for carrying a pistol concealed about his person, has the right, on demand, to have the jury explicitly instructed that it was necessary to a conviction that the State should prove that the pistol was concealed about his person.</p> <p>'2. A penal statute must be strictly construed, but not so as to defeat the obvious intent of the legislature.</p> <p>■<3. The offense is complete under this statute if the prohibited weapon is so concealed as to be generally hidden from ordinary observation.</p> <p>-4. The purpose of the act is to prohibit, as far as consistent ivith the citizen’s right to bear’ arms, the carrying of deadly weapons, with a view to prevent acts of violence and bloodshed.</p>