Hamilton v. Williams
Supreme Court of Vermont
ERROR. This writ was brought to reverse a judgment rendered on appeal by the County Court in a suit brought by the present plaintiff to recover the penalty for killing deer out of the statutable 4 0 .. season, under the act to prevent the destruction oi t • • It appears, from inspection of the record, that the defendant Williams had, before the institution of the suit, complained of himself to Mr. Justice Powell, of W?stforcl, who recorded his confession, and received the…
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ERROR. This writ was brought to reverse a judgment rendered on appeal by the County Court in a suit brought by the present plaintiff to recover the penalty for killing deer out of the statutable 4 0 .. season, under the act to prevent the destruction oi t • • It appears, from inspection of the record, that the defendant Williams had, before the institution of the suit, complained of himself to Mr. Justice Powell, of W?stforcl, who recorded his confession, and received the whole penalty for the use of the treasury of that town. In the County Court the defendant pleaded the record and…
1Opinion of the Court
Sed per Curiam,
These voluntary confessions of breaches of the minor statutes in the criminal code are so generally considered by the people to be correct, that the Court are inclined to sanction them. It is true, that in breaches of the peace, in assault and battery for instance, the Court would hardly incline to screen an offender, who had committed per*16haps a violent battery, and by his own representation had induced the magistrate ' to impose a fine every way inadequate to the offence ; but no such injustice can happen through the voluntary confession of a breach of a penal law, where the…
2Cited by2 opinions
- State v. ReedSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1857
- Tebbetts v. TiltonSuperior Court of New Hampshire · 1855