State v. Widman

Citations

• 112 Miss. 1
• 72 So. 782

Syllabus

<p>1. Animals. Tax or license. Constitutional provisions. Equal protection of the law. Dog tax. Evidence. Judicial notice. Ex post facto law. Imprisonment for debt. Repeal of law.</p> <p>Laws 1910, chapter 110, providing for a tax of one dollar on every male dog over six months old, and three dollars on every female dog over six months old and leaving it optional with each county whether its provisions shall he put in operation therein, either by .the hoard of supervisors or by an election, does not violate section 112, Constitution 1890, authorizing the legislature to impose a tax upon such domestic animals as from their nature and habits are destructive of other property. Nor does it violate the Fourteenth amendment of the Constitu-of the United States, -securing to every citizen the equal protection of the law, since while it discriminates between male and female dogs, it applies to every owner of dogs in the same situation.</p> <p>2. Evidence. Judicial notice. Character and habits of domestic animals.</p> <p>The courts take judicial .notice of the character and habits of domestic animals. -</p> <p>S. Constitutional Law. Imprisonment for debt. Dog tax.</p> <p>The provision of the state Constitution prohibiting imprisonment for debt has reference to debts founded on contract. It has no application to taxes.</p> <p>4. Constitutional Law. Ex post facto law. Dog tax.,</p> <p>Where Laws 1910, chapter 148, providing for a tax on dogs and making it optional with each county whether its provisions should be put in operation therein either by the board of supervisors or by an election, wás put in operation in a county by an order of the board of supervisors on February 5, 1914, and defendant was tried under an affidavit charging him with failing to pay a tax on a dog owned by him on February 1, 1914, such a trial was not under an ex post facto law, since the law put the tax into immediate operation, and the offense charged was the failing to pay taxes when due and this oc