Commonwealth v. O'Keefe
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint to the First District Court of Bristol, alleging that the defendant, on February 16,1877, “ did keep intoxicating liquors with intent to sell the same in this Commonwealth, he the said Simon O’Keefe not being then or there appointed, authorized or licensed to sell the same in this Commonwealth for any purpose nor by any legal authority whatsoever.”
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Complaint to the First District Court of Bristol, alleging that the defendant, on February 16,1877, “ did keep intoxicating liquors with intent to sell the same in this Commonwealth, he the said Simon O’Keefe not being then or there appointed, authorized or licensed to sell the same in this Commonwealth for any purpose nor by any legal authority whatsoever.” In the Superior Court, on appeal, after a verdict of guilty, the defendant moved in arrest of judgment for the following reasons : That the complaint sets forth no offence, either in form or substance, over which any court in this…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
This case comes within the same rule as Commonwealth v. Lewis, ante, 251, and the cases there cited. The charge of keeping intoxicating liquors with intent to sell them without authority must have been understood by the defendant as alleging that he kept them for sale, in violation of the St. of 1875, o. 99, which was the only statute in force at the time in question, and the defect is mere matter of form.
Exceptions overruled.
2Cited by1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. SpragueMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880