Dillard v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia
Criminal Law. Obscene Language. Before Judge Andrews. Oglethorpe County. January, 1870. Dillard was charged before a Justice of the Peace with having “used obscene and vulgar language in the presence of a female, without provocation,” in that “without provocation” he “asked Mary S. Sanders (the wife of William H. Sanders), to go to bed with him, the said James T. Dillard,” *and said to her, at the same time, that she was “a God-damned liar.”
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Criminal Law. Obscene Language. Before Judge Andrews. Oglethorpe County. January, 1870. Dillard was charged before a Justice of the Peace with having “used obscene and vulgar language in the presence of a female, without provocation,” in that “without provocation” he “asked Mary S. Sanders (the wife of William H. Sanders), to go to bed with him, the said James T. Dillard,” *and said to her, at the same time, that she was “a God-damned liar.” Waiving indictment by a grand jury, Dillard was tried and found guilty. AVhat the evidence was does not appear. It was said in argument that when Dillard…
1Opinion of the Court
*McCAY, J.
There was no indictment in this case. The defendant, rather than await his tidal before the Superior Court, waived indictment, and even a written accusation, and demanding a jury, was tried under the Act of 1868, on the proof. His only ground of defense is that the words proven are not obscene and vulgar words, in the sense of section 4306 of the Code.
*281We cannot think that the Legislature was aiming solely at the words, without reference to the thoughts or idea the words are intended to convey. There is not a single word in the language, however coarse, low or vulgar, that may not be…
2Cited by7 opinions
- United States v. MalesDistrict Court, D. Indiana · 1892
- Wilson v. GoodingDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia · 1969
- Ricks v. StateCourt of Appeals of Georgia · 1943
- Kelly v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1906
- Roberts v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1904
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