Johnson v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal froiu the Circuit Court of Tippah County. Hon. W. S. Featherston, Judge. Some time in December, 1884, Robert Jackson went to the appellant, A. Z. T. Johnson, to buy some whisky. Johnson had been selling whisky by the gallon. Johnson said he was out of whisky, but wanted some himself, and would go in with Jackson and they would buy a gallon jointly.
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Appeal froiu the Circuit Court of Tippah County. Hon. W. S. Featherston, Judge. Some time in December, 1884, Robert Jackson went to the appellant, A. Z. T. Johnson, to buy some whisky. Johnson had been selling whisky by the gallon. Johnson said he was out of whisky, but wanted some himself, and would go in with Jackson and they would buy a gallon jointly. Jackson gave Johnson fifty cents and he went out and bought a gallon, and then came back and divided with Jackson, giving him a pint, which Johnson said was Jackson’s proportion. The grand jury indicted Johnson for selling whisky in a less…
1Opinion of the CourtArnold, J.
The first instruction for the State should not have been given. The instruction asked by the appellant should not have been refused. Penal statutes cannot properly be so construed as to embrace cases not plainly within their meaning or letter. If appellant and Jackson united their means and bought a gallon of whisky which was afterward divided between them in proportion to what each advanced for the purpose, it constituted no violation of law. It was not a sale by either to the other, but a purchase by them, and a division between them of the fruits of a joint and lawful investment.
And the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Young v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1877
3Cited by5 opinions
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