Failure to levy tax for erection or repair of county jail when necessary.

If any county commission fails to levy a tax to erect or repair a county jail when necessary, the persons composing such county commission are severally guilty of a misdemeanor and must, on conviction, be fined not less than $50.00, but any member thereof may exonerate himself from such fine by proving that he was in favor of levying a tax sufficient for the erection or repair of the county jail, but was overruled by his colleagues.

(Code 1852, §1171; Code 1867, §905; Code 1876, §4178; Code 1886, §3966; Code 1896, §5140; Code 1907, §7483; Code 1923, §5075; Code 1940, T. 12, §190.)