Commonwealth v. Austin
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment under the Gen. Sts. c. 87, for maintaining a certain tenement used for the illegal keeping and sale of intoxicating liquors on September 1,1867, and for the six months next preceding.
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Indictment under the Gen. Sts. c. 87, for maintaining a certain tenement used for the illegal keeping and sale of intoxicating liquors on September 1,1867, and for the six months next preceding. Trial, in the superior court, before Brigham, J., who signed a bill of exceptions, the material part of which was as follows: “ The government offered evidence tending to show that the defendant from and after April 26, 1867, kept an eating-house in Boston, at No. 166 Merrimack Street, and delivered, for the first three or four weeks, ale to his regular customers, and after-wards ale to his customers…
1Opinion of the CourtWells, J.
The government, in cross-examination of the defendant, put in the fact that he had taken a license from the United States to sell intoxicating liquors at the place complained of as a nuisance, in order to show that he intended to ose and did use the place for that purpose. Its relation to the *597issue depends upon the intention and purpose with which the license was taken. It was proper for him therefore to explain his reasons for taking the license, so as to rebut the inference that might otherwise be drawn from it, and show that it was consistent with his testimony as to the manner of…
2Cited by6 opinions
- Commonwealth v. EvansMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
- State v. CorronSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1905
- State v. LangSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1874
- Commonwealth v. CottonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1885
- State v. BuzzellSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1879
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