State v. Williams

Citations

• 40 S.C. 373
• 19 S.E. 5
• 1893 S.C. LEXIS 41

Syllabus

<p>1. Constitution — Juries—Inferior Courts. — A Constitution is to be construed in the light of the then existing law; and inasmuch as the Constitutions and laws prior to the adoption of the Constitution of 1868 provided for the trial of trivial misdemeanors otherwise than by a jury of twelve men, and this Constitution itself provided lor the trial of such cases “summarily before a justice of the peace or other officer authorized by law, on information under oath, without indictment or intervention of a grand jury,” a legal trial and conviction for an offence, the punishment of which is imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, may be had under the statute before a trial justice and a jury of six men, or without jury, if such jury be not demanded, notwithstanding the other provisions of that Constitution securing the right of trial by jury.</p> <p>2. Ibid. — Ibid.—Ibid.—Appeal.—The right of appeal given by the Constitution to persons convicted in an inferior court does not give the right of a trial de novo by a jury of twelve men in the Circuit Court, to which the appeal is taken .1</p> <p>3. Ibid. — Ibid.—Ibid.—Contemporaneous construction of a Constitution is entitled to weight; and such construction of the present Constitution sustains the right of the State to try offenders before a trial justice without a jury of twelve men.</p> <p>4. Ibid. — Inferior Courts — Imprisonment—Work on Streets. — Under the constitutional provision, the jurisdiction of trial justices is limited to offences less than felony, “in which the punishment does not exceed a fine of one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for thirty days.” A statute which authorizes the trial justice to sentence a convict to hard labor on the streets during the term of his imprisonment adds an additional punishment, and is, therefore, unconstitutional and void. Mr. Justice Pope dissenting.</p>