Commonwealth v. Magee
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint, under the Pub. Sts. c. 100, alleging the exposing and keeping for sale at Boston, on August 22, 1885, of certain intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth.
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Complaint, under the Pub. Sts. c. 100, alleging the exposing and keeping for sale at Boston, on August 22, 1885, of certain intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth. Trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows: The government offered evidence tending to show that, on the day named in the complaint, the defendant, at bis saloon in Boston, delivered for analysis to the complainant, a police officer, a bottle of beer, the defendant admitting that he was keeping the beer for sale, and…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The court rightly instructed the jury, that, to convict the defendant of keeping for sale the beer in question, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that, at the time of the keeping for sale, it contained more than three per cent of alcohol, by volume, at sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Pub. Sts. e. 100, § 27.
There was evidence which justified the jury in finding this fact. The testimony of the chemist and state assayer, who analyzed the beer taken from the defendant’s stock, justified the finding that, at the time it was taken, it contained more than three per cent of…
2Cited by2 opinions
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