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140 Miss. 179

105 So 457

Billington v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court

Decided October 5, 1925

Mississippi Supreme Court · decided 1925-10-05

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently December 1930

4 state decisions

Relies on Young v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1925-10-05

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*181 Ethridge, J.,

¶1 delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2 The appellant was indicted for unlawfully having in his possession intoxicating liquors in a quantity exceeding, one quart, and was put upon trial, convicted, fined, and sentenced to a term in the county jail. The evidence used against him was obtained by means of a search warrant. The appellant owned a drug store, a part of which was occupied by him as a living and sleeping room, and a lot of Jamaica, ginger was found in his room, and this was the only intoxicating liquor shown to have been possessed by the defendant.

¶3 In Young v. State, and Davison v. Town of Newton (Miss.), 102 So. 161, 36 A. L. R. 717, we held that the statute prohibiting the possession of intoxicating liquors did not apply to articles used as medicines, etc., which might be lawfully possessed for certain purposes, and that the possession of Jamaica ginger, put up in accordance with the United States Pharmacopoeia, recognized as having a *182 proper medicinal value and use, would not sustain a conviction under the statute. See, also Reeves Grocery Co. v. State (Miss.), 103 So. 425, following the above decision. These cases are squarely in point in the case before us, and the judgment and conviction will be reversed, and appellant discharged.

¶4 Reversed, and appellant discharged.

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