Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

5 Ind. 300

Hornberger v. State

Indiana Supreme Court

Decided November 28, 1854

Indiana Supreme Court · decided 1854-11-28

<p>Information against H. for retailing spirituous liquor. The defendant was convicted and judgment rendered accordingly. No motion to quash the information, or for a new trial, or in arrest of judgment, was made, nor was any exception taken to any ruling of the Court, during the progress of the trial. Held, that, under the E. S. 1852, there was nothing presented in the record for the Supreme Court to review.</p> <p>The writ of error is abolished in this state by the R. S. 1852.</p> <p>A party who would have a question reviewed in the Supreme Court, must taire the proper steps at the proper timé, as prescribed by statute, and the record must show the fact. It is too late to raise the question in the first instance in the Supreme Court.</p>

Relies on Divine v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1854-11-28

How this case has been cited

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently March 1931

12 state decisions

30185418601870188018901900191019201930decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Stuart, J.

¶1Information against Hornberger for retailing, &c. Trial by the Court, fine 10 dollars, and judgment accordingly.

¶2Hornberger appeals; but on what grounds does not very clearly appear.

¶3There was no exception taken to any ruling of the Court in the progress of the trial. 2 R. S. 377.

¶4No motion was made for a new trial nor in arrest of judgment. 2 R. S. 380.

¶5There is none of the evidence in the record; nor does it appear that he even interposed a motion to quash the information. 2 R. S. 368.

¶6At the common law there were some defects which might be taken advantage of, either by motion to quash, or by motion in arrest, or upon error. But now the writ of error is abolished. 2 R. S. 158.—id. 381. The motion to quash, motion for a new trial, and motion in arrest of judgment, yet remain, curtailed and modified by statute. 2 R. S., supra. In their very nature, each of these motions, with then- several incidents, are to be addressed to the Court below. But the statute does not leave this matter in doubt. It is minutely provided when, how, and in what order they are to be made. 2 R. S., supra. If any ruling of the Court in the premises is deemed incorrect, the statute further points out the time and mode of exception and appeal. 2 R. S. 377, 381.

¶7*301These are the established modes of raising points in the record, for the consideration of this Court. A bare appeal can not of itself avail the party taking it, unless the preliminary steps to raise questions in the record have been adopted. It is not the errors pointed out in argument that we are to review. Nor, in general, even the errors apparent in the record. But it is the errors to which the aggrieved party has excepted at the time, in the manner pointed out in the foregoing statutes.

¶8Whether there may not be some exceptions to this rule, is not now before us to inquire; and no opinion is intimated.

¶9It is sufficient in this case that Hornberger does not appear as objecting to anything. There is consequently nothing presented in the record for us to review. We are bound to presume that all things were done correctly in the Common Pleas, unless the contrary is made to appear.

¶10The whole spirit of the new code is to hold every failure to assert a legal right at the proper time, to be a waiver of that right. It gives still greater consequence to the legal maxim, that “the law favors the vigilant.” To this end it is specific as to the objections available in criminal cases; and it is specific as to when, where, and in what manner, they should be made. The object seems to have been, that cases should not be reversed in this Court on questions never raised or agitated in the Court below.

¶11If, therefore, parties would have decisions made against them reversed, they must take the proper steps, at the proper time; and the record must show that fact. 2 R. S. 377, 380. It is too late to raise such questions for the first time in this Court, by way of argument.

¶12This doctrine does not conflict with Divine v. The State, 4 Ind. 240; for there the defendant interposed a motion to quash.

¶13Nor does it conflict with Hare v. The State, id. 241; for there the defective allegation was aided by the evidence.

¶14Nor does it conflict with Wood v. The State, at the present term; for that case is governed by the law in force prior to the taking effect of the Revised Statutes.

J. Ryman, for the appellant.R. A. Riley, N. B. Taylor, and J. Coburn, for the state.

¶15There being no question raised in the record, and nothing for us to decide, the judgment of the Common Pleas must stand.

¶16Per Curiam. — The judgment is affirmed with costs.

/5/ind/300 · .json · Public domain