Thompson v. State

Citations

• 26 Tex. Ct. App. 94
• 9 S.W. 486
• 1888 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 162

Syllabus

<p>t. Illegal Voting—Presumption oe Law—Charge oe the Court.— Upon principle, every person is presumed to know the law, both as to civil and criminal transactions. Moreover, the rule is statutory in this State that ignorance of the law is no excuse for the violation of a law, and that no mistake of law will excuse one committing an offense. Upon a trial for illegal voting, the trial court instructed the jury, in substance, that if the accused, when he voted, had been convicted of an assault to murder, and knew at the time he so voted that he had been so convicted, such knowledge was equivalent to knowing that he was not a qualified voter. Held, correct.</p> <p>2. Same—Practice.—It was further held in this case that, if the accused knew that he had been convicted of an assault to murder, he would be presumed to know that such offense was a felony, and that one of : the consequences of such conviction was his disqualification to vote. , As he could not be heard to deny such knowledge, it was not an issue , to be proved.</p>