Commonwealth v. Moore
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment alleging that the defendant, on December 4, 1879, at Boston, “with force and arms, a certain building there situate, the property of the Warren Institution for Savings, the same being then and there a corporation duly and legally established, in the night-time of said day, did break and enter, with intent then and therein to commit the crime of larceny, and the property, goods and chattels of the said corporation in said building then being found, then and there…
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Indictment alleging that the defendant, on December 4, 1879, at Boston, “with force and arms, a certain building there situate, the property of the Warren Institution for Savings, the same being then and there a corporation duly and legally established, in the night-time of said day, did break and enter, with intent then and therein to commit the crime of larceny, and the property, goods and chattels of the said corporation in said building then being found, then and there in said building feloniously to steal, take and carry away.” At the trial in the Superior Court, before Bacon, J., it was…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, C. J.
This indictment is founded on the Gen. Sts. c. 161, § 12, by which “ whoever breaks and enters in the nighttime a building, ship or vessel, with intent to commit the crime of murder, rape, robbery, larceny, or any other felony, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding twenty years.”
The intent with which the defendant broke and entered the building is an essential element of the crime, and must therefore be alleged in the indictment, and must be proved as laid. In an indictment for breaking and entering a building with intent to steal therein, it is doubtless…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. HartwellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
3Cited by4 opinions
- Collins v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1943
- Commonwealth v. CrowleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1897
- Commonwealth v. McCarthyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1888
- Crosky v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1903