State v. . Whitehurst

Settle, J. “No person, after being forbidden, to-do- so, shall enter on the premises of another without a license therefor and if any person after being thus forbidden, shall so enter, he-shall bo deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.” Acts 1866., ch. 60., There is a further clause which declares that if any person not being the present owner or bona fide claimant of such premises shall wilfully and unlawfully enter thereon, and carry off, any wood, &c., he shall, if the act be done with felonious intent, be deemed guilty of larceny, &c. And there is a proviso, by which a person may obtain, a *87 license to make search on the premises of another, for his estrays. The defendant stands charged under the first clause of the act, in the following bill: “ The jurors, &c., present that Benj. N. Whitehurst, &e., did unlawfully enter upon the premises of II. W. Martin and Edward Yellowly, there situate, he the said Benj. N. White-hurst having been forbidden by the said H. W. Martin to enter on said premises, and he the said Benj. N. Whitehurst not having a license so to enter, contrary to the statute,” &c. The defendant’s counsel moved to quash the indictment: 1st. Eor that it did not aver that the defendant had no bona fide claim of right to said land. 2d. That the indictment did not aver that Edward Yellowly, one of the owners of the land had forbidden the defendant so to enter. His Honor being of opinion with the defendant, on both points, ordered the bill to be quashed ; and the Solicitor appealed. We think the indictment sufficiently certain to apprise the 'defendant of the charge against him, and also to protect him in any of his rights, should ,he be forced hereafter to rely upon the plea of former acquittal or conviction. Either a bona fide claim of right to the land, or permission from Yellowly to enter, would doubtless be a good matter of defence, but we see no good purpose which could be served by cumbering the bill with these averments. The tendency of the courts is to dispense with all unnecessary averments, thereby' relieving the pleadings, in both criminal and civil actions, of much useless verbiage. Let it be certified that there was error in the order quashing the indictment. Pee Gueiam. Judgment reversed.