Section 99-17-19 - Assaults; insulting words admissible

In all trials for assault and battery, or for an assault, the defendant may give in evidence, in excuse or justification, any insulting words used by the person on whom the assault or assault and battery was committed, at the time of the commission thereof, toward the defendant, and the jury may consider and determine whether such words were or were not a sufficient excuse for or justification of the offense committed.Codes, 1857, ch. 64, art. 366; 1871, § 2871; 1880, § 3080; 1892, § 1428; 1906, § 1501; Hemingway's 1917, § 1259; 1930, § 1282; 1942, § 2525.