Territory v. Corbett
Montana Supreme Court
Appeal from First District, Madison County. This cause was tried in the court below by Blare, J. The demurrer to the indictment was improperly overruled. Neither the court nor grand jury had jurisdiction of the offense charged. The offense charged is nowhere made a crime by our laws. There is no such crime as fornication recognized, defined or provided with penalty under the statutes of Montana.
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Appeal from First District, Madison County. This cause was tried in the court below by Blare, J. The demurrer to the indictment was improperly overruled. Neither the court nor grand jury had jurisdiction of the offense charged. The offense charged is nowhere made a crime by our laws. There is no such crime as fornication recognized, defined or provided with penalty under the statutes of Montana. The law making it a crime for a man and woman to live together in an open state of fornication, passed by the first legislature of the Territory, was omitted from the Codified Laws of 1872. No case is…
1Opinion of the CourtK.nowles, J.
This defendant was indicted by the grand jury of Madison county, for a violation of the provisions of section 146 of the Criminal Laws of this Territory. The section is as follows:
“ Persons being within the degrees of consanguinity, within which marriages are declared to be incestuous and Amid, who shall inter-marry with each other, or who shall commit fornication or adultery with each other, shall, on conviction, be punished by imprisonment in the Territorial prison not less than one, nor exceeding ten years.”
I will consider the points presented in this case somewhat in the order in which…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Commonwealth v. LaneMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- People v. BakerCalifornia Supreme Court · 1851
- Territory v. FlowersMontana Supreme Court · 1877
3Cited by15 opinions
- State v. ColemanMontana Supreme Court · 1979
- State v. Spotted HawkMontana Supreme Court · 1899
- State v. RitzMontana Supreme Court · 1922
- In re Davis' EstateMontana Supreme Court · 1891
- State v. HarmonMontana Supreme Court · 1959
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