Wade v. the State

1 Citing case

  1. Murphy v. State

    171 Ark. 620 (Ark. 1926)   Cited 6 times
    In Murphy v. State, 171 Ark. 620, 286 S.W. 871, 872, 48 A.L.R. 1189, the Arkansas court had no hesitancy in deciding a wife might testify when her husband was being prosecuted for abandoning her. The statute of that state provided that either of the spouses might testify against the other "in all cases in which an injury has been done by either against the person or property of either".

    The Texas statute on this subject is also similar to ours, and has been sustained by the Criminal Court of Appeals in that State in several cases. Wade v. State, 252 S.W. 770. It is a little difficult to determine the extent to which the lawmakers may go, for the protection of society at large, in creating public offenses based upon the conduct of those joined together in marriage contract; but we entertain no doubt that willful desertion of the wife by the husband "without good cause" may be made a criminal offense.