Murphy v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal from the circuit court of Harrison county. Hon. S. H. Terral, Judge. The appellant was indicted and convicted for the offense of keeping a boarding-house in a town without paying the privilege tax prescribed by the act of March 18, 1886. The proof showed that appellant kept a boarding-house in Mississippi City, which is not an incorporated town.
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Appeal from the circuit court of Harrison county. Hon. S. H. Terral, Judge. The appellant was indicted and convicted for the offense of keeping a boarding-house in a town without paying the privilege tax prescribed by the act of March 18, 1886. The proof showed that appellant kept a boarding-house in Mississippi City, which is not an incorporated town. The state was permitted to prove, over the objection of the defendant, that Mississippi City was a place containing a railroad station, telegraph office, post-office, court house, hotels, and many stores and dwelling-houses congregated…
1Opinion of the CourtArnold, C. J.
The court should not have instructed the jury that Mississippi City was a town. The testimony showed that it was not incorporated, and whether it was a town or not, was a question of fact to be determined by the jury, and not by the court.
The word “ town,” as used in the statute which imposes a privilege tax on a private boarding-house in a town, does not refer exclusively to incorporated towns. In I. C. R. R. Co. v. Jordan, 63 Miss. 458, the terms town, city or village, in the statute regulating the speed of locomotives and cars, were construed to mean *48incorporated town, city or village,…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Illinois Central R. R. v. JordanMississippi Supreme Court · 1886
3Cited by4 opinions
- City of Indianapolis v. HigginsIndiana Supreme Court · 1895
- Holt Manufacturing Co. v. JaussaudWashington Supreme Court · 1925
- Board of Levee Com'rs v. Howze Mercantile Co.Mississippi Supreme Court · 1928
- Holt Manufacturing Co. v. JaussaudWashington Supreme Court · 1925