Thomas v. State
Supreme Court of Alabama
Ebom: tbe City Court of Montgomery. Tried before tbe Hon. JohN A. Monas. Tbe indictment in tbis case contained only one count, wbicb charged that tbe defendant, Celia Tbomas, “ before the finding of this indictment, was a common night-walker, and did walk and ramble in the streets and common highways at unseasonable hours of night, without having any lawful business, and without any necessity therefor, against good morals and good manners, to the common nuisance of all good…
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Ebom: tbe City Court of Montgomery. Tried before tbe Hon. JohN A. Monas. Tbe indictment in tbis case contained only one count, wbicb charged that tbe defendant, Celia Tbomas, “ before the finding of this indictment, was a common night-walker, and did walk and ramble in the streets and common highways at unseasonable hours of night, without having any lawful business, and without any necessity therefor, against good morals and good manners, to the common nuisance of all good people of the county; against the peace,” &c. The defendant demurred to the indictment, on the ground that it did not…
1Opinion of the Court
MANNING, J. —
A night-walker, simply as such, seems, by the old English law, to have been held to be a suspected person, rather than a criminal, and to be therefore liable to be arrested, and kept in custody until the next morning, and then to be taken before a magistrate for examination, who might require him or her to find sureties for good behavior, if under the circumstances that were thought proper. — 1 Burns’Justice, 942, title “ Eves droppers”; 8 Hawk. Pl. of the Cro. (7 Eng. ed. by Leach), 64, § 20; 2 Ib. 14. § 4; Lawrence v. Hedger, 3 Taunt. 14.
A common night-walker was sometimes…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Stokes v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1890