Opinion
July Term, 1807.
In an indictment for perjury, the style of the court before which the perjury is alleged to have been committed must be legally set forth.
THE defendant was indicted for perjury; and the indictment charged "that at a certain Superior Court begun and holden for the district of Hillsborough on 6 October, 1805, in the town of Hillsborough, in the county of Orange, in the Orange, in the aforesaid district, before the Honorable Francis Locke, Esq., judge of the said court, on 16th of the said month in said year, a certain issue duly joined in the said court between the State and Zephariah Tate, and others, in a certain prosecution for a riot, came to be tried in due form of law, and was then and there tried by a certain jury of the country in that behalf duly sworn and taken between the parties aforesaid; and that upon the trial of the said issue so joined as aforesaid one Joseph Street, late of the county and district aforesaid, yeoman, appeared as a witness for and on behalf of the State, and was sworn, and then and there did take his corporal oath upon the holy gospel of God, before the said Francis Locke, Esq., judge as aforesaid, to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, touching and concerning the matter in question in the said prosecution and issue aforesaid (the said Francis Locke, Esq., then and there having sufficient and competent power and authority to administer an oath to the said Joseph Street in that behalf)." The indictment then assigned the perjury, etc. The defendant was convicted, and Duffey, counsel for the defendant, filed the following reason in arrest of judgment, to wit: "That the style of the court or of the judge presiding therein when the perjury is alleged to have been committed is not duly or legally set forth; nor any jurisdiction shown to administer such oath as is alleged to have been taken falsely and corruptly"; and the case was ordered to be sent to this Court for the opinion of the judges.
From Hillsboro District.
The indictment should set forth the (157) legal style of the court before which the perjury is alleged to have been committed. The Judiciary Act of 1777, establishing the County and Superior Courts, gives the style of each, "Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions," and "Superior Courts of Law." The indictment in the present case charges the perjury to have been committed before "a certain Superior Court begun and holden for the district of Hillsborough." As the style of the court is not legally set forth, the indictment is defective and the judgment must be arrested.
Cited: S. v. Davis, 69 N.C. 496.