State v. Clements

Decided November 15, 1842

Court of Appeals of South Carolina · decided 1842-11-15

Before Evans, J., Darlington, Fall Term, 1842. The defendant was convicted, and now moved the Court of Appeals in arrest of judgment, on the following grounds: 1. Because the indictment does not charge that Hester Dowling, the mother of the bastard child, was a white woman. 2. That the indictment is, in other respects, informal and insufficient.

Decided 1842-11-15

¶1Curia, per

Evans, J.

¶2If the question here presented were a new case, it might be doubtful, since the decision of the State vs. Schroder, 3 Hill, 62, whether it be necessary to allege that the mother of the bastard was a white woman. But the same question was made and decided expressly, in the case of the State vs. Clark, 2 Brevard, 386, and we think it better to let a decision stand, although its correctness may be somewhat doubtful. It is easy to conform, and departures from adjudicated cases might lead to great uncertainties in the law.

Richardson, O’Neall, Butler and Wardlaw, JJ. concurred. Earle, J., dissented.