Commonwealth v. O'Donnell
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint made in the police court of the city of Boston, in behalf of the Commonwealth, by Henry Faxon of Boston, inspector of milk in said city, alleging that the defendant, on the thiity-fiist day of October, in the year of onr Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, at Boston aforesaid, with force and arms, being then and there a dealer in milk, and being then and there recorded as a dealer in milk in the books of said Henry Faxon, did then and there knowingly sell to…
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Complaint made in the police court of the city of Boston, in behalf of the Commonwealth, by Henry Faxon of Boston, inspector of milk in said city, alleging that the defendant, on the thiity-fiist day of October, in the year of onr Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, at Boston aforesaid, with force and arms, being then and there a dealer in milk, and being then and there recorded as a dealer in milk in the books of said Henry Faxon, did then and there knowingly sell to one John Hayes a certain quantity, to wit, one pint of adulterated milk, the same being then and there adulterated by…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, C. J.
This complaint is clearly insufficient. It does not aver with certainty and precision that the name of the defendant was recorded, as a dealer in milk, in the books of the inspector. This was an essential and traversable fact, without proof of which the defendant could not be convicted of selling adulterated milk under Gen. Sts. c. 49, § 151. It was therefore necessary to allege it distinctly in the complaint.
The addition to the name of the complainant that he was an inspector of milk in the city of Boston, can be regarded only as descriptio personae. It is not so alleged that the plea of not…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Pope v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1921