Summary
The Tennessee Supreme Court held that an indictment charging defendants with unlawfully and willfully disturbing a Christmas-tree gathering stated a common-law misdemeanor. The court distinguished an earlier case involving a statutory offense limited to specified types of assemblies and concluded that the statute did not abrogate the common law as to other lawful gatherings. The order quashing the indictment was reversed, and the case was remanded for trial.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether an indictment alleging the willful and unlawful disturbance of a Christmas tree assemblage charges a criminal offense at common law.
- Whether Shannon's Code section 6776, which proscribes disturbances of religious, educational, literary, and temperance-lodge assemblies, abrogated the common-law offense as applied to other lawful gatherings.
- Whether the trial court properly quashed the indictment for failure to charge an indictable offense.
Holdings
- It is a common-law misdemeanor to unlawfully, willfully, and intentionally disturb an assemblage of persons gathered for a lawful Christmas tree celebration.
- Shannon's Code section 6776 did not abrogate the common-law offense of disturbing lawful assemblies other than the religious, educational, literary, and temperance-lodge assemblies specifically identified in the statute.
- Layne v. State did not preclude prosecution of the defendants under the common law because that case held only that the evidence varied from an indictment brought under the disturbance statute; it did not hold that disturbing a Christmas tree assemblage was not a common-law offense.
Key quotations
“A statute will not be construed to alter the common law further than the act expressly declares, or than is necessarily implied from' the fact that it covers the whole subject-matter.” (123 Tenn. at 506)
“It is a misdemeanor at common law . wantonly to disturb an assemblage of persons met together for any lawful purpose, particularly meetings of a distinctly moral or benevolent character.” (123 Tenn. at 504)
Factual background
The indictment alleged that on December 25, 1909, the defendants unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly disturbed an assemblage gathered for a Christmas tree celebration through loud talking, profane discourse, and other rude and improper conduct. The trial court quashed the indictment, concluding that the alleged conduct was not an indictable offense. The Supreme Court considered whether the alleged disturbance constituted a common-law misdemeanor notwithstanding Tennessee's statute addressing disturbances of specified types of assemblies.
Procedural history
The Circuit Court of Loudon County quashed the indictment on the ground that it did not charge an indictable offense. The State brought the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court by error proceeding. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for trial.
Remand instructions
The case was remanded for trial on the indictment.