Rutherford County NcArchives Court.....James Dodd, State V. 1819
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Deb Haines http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00003.html#0000719 January 30, 2009, 9:08 am

Source: Nc Reports
Written: 1819

The State v. James Dodd

From Rutherford

May Term 1819

Indictment charged, that Defendant, falsely, wittingly, corruptly, &c, swore 
to certain facts before the Grand Jury upon a bill of indictment, but did not 
charge how or in what way the facts thus sworn to, had a bearing upon the 
allegations of the indictment, nor that they were material to, or connected 
with, the question then under consideration by the Grand Jury. Judgment 
arrested.

In the absence of positive acts of the Legislature, there is no criterion by 
which an act can be ascertained to be criminal, but that of its being against 
the interest or the State. A false oath is injurious to the State or to an 
individual, only where it tends to prevent right; therefore to constitute 
perjury, it must be to some material fact tending to injure some person.

The indictment charged, "that at a Superior Court of Law, opened and held for 
the County of Rutherford, by the Honorable Duncan Cameron, one of the Judges 
of the Superior Courts of Law and Equity, in and for the State of North 
Carolina and County aforesaid, on the third Monday after the fourth Monday of 
March, 1816, there was a bill of indictment preferred, and sent to the Grand 
Jury of said Court, in behalf of the State, against Joseph Hamilton and Noble 
Hamilton, for a charge of assault and battery, alleged to have been committed, 
before that time, upon the body of one James Dodd, by the aforesaid Joseph and 
Noble Hamilton, and the aforesaid James Dodd was introduced as a witness in 
behalf of the State, and was sworn in due form of law, before the Honorable 
Duncan Cameron, Judge as aforesaid, (he the said Duncan Cameron, then and 
there having full and competent power and authority to administer an oath to 
the said James Dodd in that behalf) upon the Holy Gospel of God, to speak the 
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the Grand Jury 
aforesaid, touching and concerning what he the said James Dodd might know, of 
and concerning the charge, in the aforesaid bill of indictment contained, 
against the said Joseph and Noble Hamilton: and the Jurors aforesaid, upon 
their oath aforesaid, do further present, that the aforesaid James Dodd, being 
so sworn as aforesaid, and not having the fear of God before his eyes, but 
being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil, in the County 
aforesaid, at the term aforesaid last above mentioned, before the Court and 
Grand Jury aforesaid, by his own act and consent, and of his own most wicked 
and corrupt mind and disposition, did wilfully, wittingly, knowingly, 
wickedly, maliciously and corruptly swear, depose and say, and give evidence 
to the Grand Jury aforesaid, upon his oath aforesaid, (among other things) in 
substance and to the effect, following, that is to say, that he the said James 
Dodd did not, on the night that the assault and battery was charged by him to 
have been committed, by the said Joseph and Noble Hamilton on the body of him 
the said James Dodd, see a negro woman Celia, a slave of Noble Hamilton, speak 
to her, or receive anything from her, and that he came to the place where he 
received the abuse, on his lawful business, to receive money from Mrs. 
Hamilton, that she owed him, and that he did not know any person was there 
until he was knocked down: Whereas, in truth and in fact, he the said James 
Dodd did see a negro woman slave named Celia, the property of Noble Hamilton, 
on the night and immediately before the lime that he, the said James Dodd, 
received the abuse from the said Joseph and Noble Hamilton, and whereas, in 
truth and in fact, he the said James Dodd did receive from the said negro 
woman Celia, a large sum of money, to-wit, the sum of ten dollars, on the same 
night, and before the time he the said James Dodd received the abuse from the 
said Joseph and Noble Hamilton; and whereas, in truth and in fact, he the said 
James Dodd, on the night that he received the abuse, did not go to the place 
where he received it on his lawful business, nor to receive money which Mrs. 
Hamilton owed to him, but, in truth and in fact, he the said James Dodd did go 
to the place where he received the abuse, on the night that he received the 
same, and immediately before he received the same from the said Joseph and 
Noble Hamilton, for the express purpose, and none other, of receiving the 
aforesaid ten dollars, from the said negro slave Celia, and did receive the 
same from her, he the said James Dodd, at the time of receiving the same, well 
believing that the said ten dollars were feloniously stolen from the said 
Noble Hamilton: And so the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oath aforesaid, do 
say, that the aforesaid James Dodd, upon his oath aforesaid, before the Court 
and Grand Jury aforesaid, the said Duncan Cameron, Judge as aforesaid, then 
and there having competent power to administer said oath to the said James 
Dodd, in that behalf in the year and at the term aforesaid, in the County 
aforesaid, in manner and form aforesaid, by his own act and consent, and of 
his own most wicked and corrupt mind and disposition, did wilfully, 
malicously, wittingly, knowingly, wickedly and corruptly, commit and swear a 
corrupt lie, to the great displeasure of Almighty God, aud against the pence 
and dignity of the State."

The defendant was convicted, and the case was sent to this Court upon the 
question, whether any and what judgment should he rendered.

Henderson, Judge: The indictment charges a kind of quasi perjury, unknown in 
our laws, and entirely inconsistent with our ideas of criminal acts. For, in 
the absence of positive acts of the Legislature, where the will of the 
Legislature stands for the reason of the law, we know of no rule or criterion 
by which an act can be ascertained to be criminal, but that of its being 
against the interest of the State. A false oath is only injurious to the 
State, or even to an individual, where it tends to prevent right. Therefore, 
to constitute perjury, it must be to some material fact tending to injure some 
person. If it be entirely immaterial, it cannot affect any one: it wants a 
necessary ingredient to constitute it an offence against society, and that is, 
a possibility of injuring the community, or an individual of that community, 
in a manner which the good of the whole requires to be repressed. Apart, from 
this consideration, it is not for Courts of Justice to inquire how the act 
stands in a moral or religious point of view.

We do not say that the facts sworn to, if false, did not amount to perjury; 
but that they are not so charged or averred as to shew that they constitute 
that crime. Without such charge or averment, the Court cannot value their 
tendency. The judgment must be arrested.

Cited: S. v. Lawson, 98 N. C. 761; S. v. Cline, 150 N. C. 856 (misquoted as S. 
v. Walker.)

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