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53 Ala. 463

Hall v. State

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided December 15, 1875

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1875-12-15

Tried before Hon. John K. Henry. The appellants, Hall and Parmer, were indicted for “living together in a state of adultery or fornication.” The testimony on the part of the State went to show that the defendant, Hall, was seen in bed with the female defendant, Parmer, on three different occasions, and that he had confessed “that he had had illicit intercourse with her.” Where Hall lived was not shown.

Relies on Collins v. State · State v. Glaze

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1875-12-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently December 1948

15 state decisions

4018751880189019001910192019301940decided

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.

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BBICKELL, C. J.

¶1The charge of the court was doubtless induced by the expressions found in State v. Glaze, 9 Ala. 283, which are repeated in Collins v. State, 14 Ala. 608. These expressions are, that the statute punished persons “who live together in adultery or fornication,” “but there is no reason to suppose the offense may not be committed, if the connection should exist but for a single day. The living together criminally isa fact to be ascertained by the jury, and the offense is complete whenever the fact is demonstrated.” It may be neither case necessarily called for these expressions, but we think they are correct. It is obvious the statute does not intend to punish a single or occasional acts of criminal intercourse. It is a state or condition of cohabitation, as distinguished from a single or occasional acts, that it was intended to reach, designed by the parties as continuous, so long as they chose. This state or condition may well be assumed by them in a single day, if such is their purpose, as any other state or condition may be so assumed. If for a single day they live together in adultery, intending a continuance of the connection, the offense is complete, though it may be interrupted or broken off by a prosecution, or the fear of prosecution, or from any other cause. The true inquiry is, and one a jury will scarcely err in determining correctly, when the circumstances are in evidence, was it a living together, or a mere single act of illicit intercourse ; was it cohabitation, looking to the intent of the parties, or a mere adulterous intimacy without any purpose of its continuance?

¶2The charge requested, if given, would have invaded the province of the jury, on whom was the duty of drawing the legitimate inference from the specific facts embodied in the charge. The judgment and sentence'are in conformity to the statute, B. C., section 3760, and must be affirmed.

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