United States v. Collins
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Rhode Island
This was an indictment against [Walter Collins] the master of a vessel of the United States, under the act of March 3, 1835 (4 Stat. 776), for inflicting on one of the crew a cruel and unusual punishment. The case opened by the district attorney was that the defendant had inflicted the punishment of flogging, abolished by the act of September, 1850 (9 Stat. 515).
1Opinion of the Court
CURTIS, Circuit Justice.
I do not think you can maintain this indictment by proving the case opened. The act describes four distinct offences. Beating or wounding, imprisoning, deprivation of suitable food and nourishment, infliction of any cruel and unusual punishment. Each of these is a substantive criminal act, when proceeding from malice, and without justifiable i ause, and one of these offences cannot be properly described in the indictment by words used in the act of congress to describe another of-fence. If the defendant inflicted the punishment of flogging, from malice, he' should have…
2Cited by7 opinions
- Harmelin v. MichiganSupreme Court of the United States · 1991
- Davis v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1998
- Gridley v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1930
- Harmelin v. MichiganSupreme Court of the United States · 1991
- United States v. TriceDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee · 1887
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