Gaines v. State

The plaintiff in error was indicted for uttering a profane oath “in a public place, in the presence of divers good citizens, and to the common nuisance,” and, upon conviction, appealed in error.

Profanity is indictable when it becomes a public nuisance, and the indictment in this case is good: State v. Graham, 3 Sneed, 134; State v. Steele, 3 Heis., 135. The averment to the common nuisance is essential: Robinson v. State, September Term, 1880. If the indictment be in other respects good, it is not a fatal defect to omit the allegation that the words were uttered in the presence of divers good…