32 Tex. 167
Decided July 1, 1869
Texas Supreme Court · decided 1869-07-01
The indictment charged Joseph P. Smith and Mary Jane Butler with living and cohabiting together in fornication, alleging that they were both unmarried. The comt below quashed the indictment, on exceptions of defendant that it charged no offense against the laws of the State.
Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently July 1920
1 state decisions
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1869-07-01
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¶1Fornication is charged in this indictment as the offense of these defendants. At the Galveston session (1869) of this court, in the case of The State of Texas v. John Foster, it was decided that the moral offense of fornication, not having been defined in the Criminal Code, it is not punishable under the law as it now exists. The decision in that settles this case.
¶2The judgment of the court below, quashing the indictment, is affirmed.
¶3Affirmed.