Commonwealth v. Keenan & Clark
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Certiorari to tbe Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny county: No. 219, to October and November Term 1869. At the June Term 1869, of tbe Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny county, a true bill was found against William W. Keenan and James II. Clark for a libel on A. M. Bowser.
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Certiorari to tbe Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny county: No. 219, to October and November Term 1869. At the June Term 1869, of tbe Court of Quarter Sessions of Allegheny county, a true bill was found against William W. Keenan and James II. Clark for a libel on A. M. Bowser. The indictment contained three counts, and after charging that tbe defendants were tbe proprietors and publishers of a newspaper published at Greensburg, in tbe county of Westmoreland, called tbe “Republican and Democrat,” and that tbe defendants intending to injure, &c., tbe prosecutor Bowser, and to cause it to…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered,
by Agnew, J.
The strictness of criminal pleading has found its
greatest rigor and its highest reason in a country where, in the time when Sir William Blackstone wrote, one hundred and sixty offences were punishable with death. Humane judges would catch at any slip when a life was to be saved. But in this state, where but a single crime is capital, and where the whole criminal code is administered in mildness and mercy, there is no such reason for strictness of pleading. Therefore it was said by Justice Sergeant, in Sherban v. Commonwealth, 8 Watts 213,…
2Cases cited6 opinions
- Woglam v. CowperthwaiteSupreme Court of the United States · 1790
- Bornman v. BoyerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1811
- Hays v. BrierlySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1835
- Thompson v. LuskSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1833
- M'Kennon v. GreerSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1834
1 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by31 opinions
- Commonwealth v. BradneySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1889
- Price v. ConwaySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1890
- Commonwealth v. SwallowSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1898
- Commonwealth v. New Bethlehem BoroughSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1900
- Commonwealth v. RomesburgSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1927
26 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.