John Smith V. Smith: The US Supreme Court Case

In 1875, John Smith was unjustly arrested for an assault charge placed against him by his wife and the mother of his children. It began with a standard marital argument that included subjects such finances, the husbands sporadic work schedule and the wife’s claim that the John Smith’s drinking only made their problems worse. Mr. Smith told his wife that “he had not been drinking and that if (she) did not shut up that he would hit her”(Smith). Mrs. Smith continued to shout at her husband, all the while being in front of their child and the neighbors child. Mr. Smith then proceeded to walk over to a pile of kindling wood and a picked a piece about (roughly two inches in diameter) and then proceeded to walk back over to his wife with the piece

Based on the precedents set by cases that came before it, the court should have absolutely no choice but to dismiss the assault charge against Mr. Smith because no permanent injury was inflicted- or intended- upon his wife, Mr. Smith has the duty of disciplining his wife when she is unruly, and the precedent set forth by many previous cases indicate that domestic issues should be left to the family government. This case should be dismissed before going to court because no permanent damage was inflicted upon Mr. Smith’s wife and there is no evidence to suggest he intended to inflict any permanent injury. There are several past cases that justify dismissal in these grounds, including Joyner Vs. Joyner, State Vs. Black, and State Vs. Rhodes. Joyner Vs. Joyner was an 1862 divorce case where the wife claimed that her husband- who was of a lower social class than her- had hit her with a horse whip on at least one occasion and hit her with a switch on several occasions. She was not granted the divorce on several different factors with one of them being that unless the jury could find that-from the evidence- any permanent injury was inflicted upon the wife or that the striking in its nature was meant to inflict any serious