Hello.
The case is:
LOTTIE E. TAYLOR V. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, Supreme Court of
Virginia, March 1, 1948. The citation is: 187 Va. 214 ; 46 S.E. 2d 384
; 1948 Va. LEXIS 214 .
I have obtained the full-text of the Virginia Supreme Court decision
from Lexis-Nexis, but I can't reprint the whole decision here because
of copyright restrictions. You may obtain the full-text of the
decision from Lexis-Nexis by credit card for $9.
http://www.lexisnexis.com/
I will, however, summarize the case for you, with selected quotations
where appropriate:
On September 12, 1946, Mrs. Lottie E. Taylor purchased a ticket to
ride a bus from Washington, D.C., to Brightwood, Madison County,
Virginia. The bus was operated by a company called Virginia Stage
Lines, Incorporated. Upon boarding the bus, Mrs. Taylor sat in the
fifth seat from front of the bus. The driver requested that Mrs.
Taylor move to back of the bus since "under the rules and regulations
of his company, colored persons were required to sit in the rear and
white persons in the front." The driver further informed Mrs. Taylor
that while the regulations were not enforced in Washington, DC, they
were enforced in Virginia and that she would have to move to back of
the bus when they entered Virginia.
The bus driver then directed Mrs. Taylor's attention to a list of
regulations posted near the front of the bus. The list include
regulations such as: "The Company reserves full control and discretion
as to the seating of passengers... White passengers will occupy space
nearest the front of the bus, and colored passengers will occupy space
nearest the rear of the bus... Any passenger who shall engage in any
disorderly conduct on a bus... or who shall fail or refuse to comply
with these regulations shall be subject to removal."
Mrs. Taylor refused to give up her seat. The bus driver later
testified that Mrs. Taylor "said in a very loud voice at one point 'I
will not move.'"
Upon entering Virginia, the bus driver deviated from his route and
drove to the Fairfax County Court House. At the court house, Mrs.
Taylor was removed from the bus and charged with violating Virginia
Code 4533a (riotous or disorderly conduct in a public place).
Mrs. Taylor was tried in the Circuit Court of Fairfax county on a
warrant charging that on September 12, 1946, Mrs. Taylor "did
unlawfully cause an unnecessary disturbance in an omnibus [bus] or
public conveyance by failing to move to another seat when lawfully
requested so to move by the operator thereof, said failure being in
violation of section 4533a of the Code of Virginia."
Mrs. Taylor pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a jury trial.
The trial judge found Mrs. Taylor guilty and ordered her to pay a $5
fine.
Mrs. Taylor appealed her conviction on the grounds that there was
insufficient evidence to show that she was guilty of disorderly
conduct, that section 4533a was vague and ambiguous, and that the
statute amounted to unconstitutional regulation of interstate
commerce.
Although it rejected Mrs. Taylor's latter arguments, the Virginia
Supreme Court agreed that there was insufficient evidence to sustain a
charge of riotous or disorderly conduct.
Basically, the Court decided that mere noncompliance with the rules
and regulations of the bus company was not a criminal offense. The
Court stated that Mrs. Taylor "had not disturbed any person or person
or caused any commotion affecting, in any degree, the peace or good
order of the bus. Neither her words nor her acts had a vicious or
injurious tendency... She merely insisted upon what she deemed her
rights. She was guilty of no definite misbehavior or misconduct in the
sense that she was disorderly or turbulent... The delay and the
deviation in [the bus'] operating schedule were dependent upon the
determination and wish of its operator..."
Therefore, the Virginia Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the
trial court and dismissed the charge against Mrs. Taylor.
search strategy: Lexis-Nexis, Virginia case law, Lottie Taylor
I hope this helps. Continued good luck with your research. |
