Steber v. State

Citations

• 23 Tex. Ct. App. 176
• 4 S.W. 880
• 1887 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 45

Syllabus

<p>1. False Swearing—Marriage Licences—County Clerks, by virtue of the general power conferred on them by Article 1149 of the Revised Statutes, “to administer all oaths and take depositions,” have authority to take affidavits of the consent of parents to the marriage of their daughter, and such an affidavit, if false, may be assigned as “false swearing,” though not as perjury. (Davidson v. The State, 33 Texas Ct. App., 376, on this subject, cited and approved.)</p> <p>2. Same—Evidence.—Appellant was tried for falsely making oath that the mother of the intended bride was willing for her to marry her affianced husband. It was in proof that the bride’s mother had been dead some two years when the oath was made and the license obtained, and that since her death the bride had lived in the family and at the home of one Gr., who stood to her in loco parentis. The trial court permitted the State to prove by said G. that he did not give his consent to the marriage. Held that this testimony was inadmissible because wholly irrelevant to the issue, and tended to prejudice the rights of the defendant.</p> <p>3. Same—Charge op the Court—“Willpctilt.”—Article 196 of the Penal Code, in defining the offense of “false swearing,” requires that it be done “ deliberately and willfully. ” The trial court properly instructed the jury as to the legal signification of “deliberately” but omitted to define the legal meaning of “willfully.” Held, in view of the facts in proof, that this omission was reversible error. See the opinion in extenso.</p>