Hartmann v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
In error from the Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia county. March 5 and 8. — The indictment in this case contained five counts, the first and fourth of which were as follows: 1. The grand inquest, &c., do present, that John H. Hartmann, late of said county, yeoman, Granville Hartmann, late of said county, yeoman, William C. Harris, late of said county, yeoman, together with divers others, whose names to the inquest aforesaid are unknown, being evil-disposed persons,- and…
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In error from the Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia county. March 5 and 8. — The indictment in this case contained five counts, the first and fourth of which were as follows: 1. The grand inquest, &c., do present, that John H. Hartmann, late of said county, yeoman, Granville Hartmann, late of said county, yeoman, William C. Harris, late of said county, yeoman, together with divers others, whose names to the inquest aforesaid are unknown, being evil-disposed persons,- and wickedly devising and intending to defraud and prejudice certain persons hereinafter mentioned, on the first day of…
1Opinion of the CourtGibson, C. J.
There is one vice in this indictment, which runs through every part of it. The conspiracy, as charged, is not to do an act illegal in itself, or by combination of numbers and means in the execution of it, biit to do an act thought to be specifically prohibited by statute. It is certainly not criminal, the common law, to obtain a false credit by any other means than the use of a false token, or to secrete a debtor’s property with a design to keep it from his creditors. But such acts are penal by the statute to abolish imprisonment for debt. Now, to constitute a conspiracy, the purpose to be…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Scott v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1820
3Cited by9 opinions
- Commonwealth v. SwallowSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1898
- State v. HardinSupreme Court of Iowa · 1909
- Commonwealth v. HaunSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1904
- Le Prell v. StateDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida · 1960
- Allison's & Miller's AppealSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1925
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