People v. Gill

Decided July 1, 1857

California Supreme Court · decided 1857-07-01

The defendant was indicted on the seventeenth of June, 1856, for the crime of murder, committed on the twenty-second day of March, 1856. He was tried on the thirteenth day of February, and convicted of the crime of manslaughter. Motion being made for arrest of judgment and overruled, defendant was sentenced to eighteen months’ confinement in the state prison, from which judgment this appeal was taken.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently January 1977

2 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1857-07-01

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Murray, C. J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court—Burnett, J., concurring.

¶2The appellant was convicted of manslaughter. The offence was committed on the twenty-second day of March, 1856. On the nineteenth of April, 1856, the act concerning crimes and punishments was amended, and the punishment for various crimes was altered.

¶3It is now contended that there is no law by which the prisoner can be punished. If the old law had been repealed and no provisions made for past offences, then, undoubtedly, he would have to be discharged; but the tenth section of the act of 1856 contains a saving clause, to the effect that nothing contained therein “ shall apply to the trial of persons indicted for offences committed prior to the amended act. In all such cases, the punishment shall be fixed in accordance with the laws heretofore existing.”

¶4v The appellant was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced, under the old law. The judgment is regular, and must be affirmed.