Wilmarth v. King
Supreme Court of New Hampshire
Habeas Corpus. The petitioner, having been duly convicted before a justice of the peace for the county of the offence of drunkenness in a public place, was sentenced by the justice to confinement in the county jail for tbe term of four months. The ground of his application for discharge was the claim that the sentence of confinement for four months was in excess of the jurisdiction which could be conferred upon a justice of the peace under the constitution.
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Habeas Corpus. The petitioner, having been duly convicted before a justice of the peace for the county of the offence of drunkenness in a public place, was sentenced by the justice to confinement in the county jail for tbe term of four months. The ground of his application for discharge was the claim that the sentence of confinement for four months was in excess of the jurisdiction which could be conferred upon a justice of the peace under the constitution. Upon examination before Wallace, C. J., in the superior court, the jurisdictional question was transferred to the supreme court for…
1Opinion of the CourtParsons, C. J.
The extreme term for which imprisonment is authorized as punishment for the offence of which the petitioner was found guilty is six months. P. S., c. 264, ss. 14, 20; Laws 1903, c. 32. Section 3, chapter 248, of the Public Statutes,, authorizes every justice of the peace to “hear and determine any prosecution or action of a criminal nature arising within his county, or triable therein, where the punishment is ... by imprisonment not exceeding six months.” The limitation, by constitutional provisions securing to the individual an untrammeled right of trial by jury when accused of crime, upon…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- State v. GerrySupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1896
- State v. JacksonSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1898
3Cited by5 opinions
- District of Columbia v. ClawansSupreme Court of the United States · 1937
- State v. MorrillSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1983
- Opinion of the JusticesSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1992
- State v. DesjardinsSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1970
- State v. DesjardinsSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1970