Gordon v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia
Indictment for assault to rape. Before Judge Henry. Floyd superior court. September term, 1893. The accused was 13 years and 2.7 days old, according to the testimony of his father.
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Indictment for assault to rape. Before Judge Henry. Floyd superior court. September term, 1893. The accused was 13 years and 2.7 days old, according to the testimony of his father. According to the testimony of the girl alleged to have been assaulted, she was 10 years old at the time, and was in the road on her way to school, when the defendant, walking about four feet from her and in the same direction, accosted her with the expression, “Howdy sweetheart,” and made an obscene statement manifesting his purpose to have sexual intercourse with her immediately. She had said nothing to him. He…
1Opinion of the Court
Simmons, Justice.
By the common law of England, a boy under fourteen years of age cannot be convicted of rape. In Hale’s Pleas of the Crown it is said that an infant under that age “is presumed in law to be unable to commit a rape, and therefore, it seems, cannot be guilty of it; and though in other felonies militia supplet cetatem in some eases, , . . yet it seems as to this fact the law presumes him impotent, as well as wanting in discretion.” (Vol. 1, p. 629.) This presumption of physical incapacity is based upon the fact that in England puberty is very seldom attained, among males, under…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Heilman v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1886
- Turner v. ThompsonSupreme Court of Georgia · 1877
- McKinny v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1892
- State v. JonesSupreme Court of Louisiana · 1887
3Cited by6 opinions
- State v. RogersSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1969
- Foster v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1898
- Houston v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1938
- State v. FiskNorth Dakota Supreme Court · 1906
- Bird v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1900
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