Commonwealth v. Lincoln
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment for obtaining money by false pretences. The material parts of the indictment were as follows : “ The jurors for the said commonwealth on their oath present, that Jacob N. Lincoln of, &c., on, &c., at, &c., unlawfully, knowingly and fraudulently designing and intending, by the false pretences hereinafter named and set forth, to injure and defraud one Matilda K. Shepard, feloniously, unlawfully, knowingly and designedly did falsely pretend to said Matilda K. Shepard…
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Indictment for obtaining money by false pretences. The material parts of the indictment were as follows : “ The jurors for the said commonwealth on their oath present, that Jacob N. Lincoln of, &c., on, &c., at, &c., unlawfully, knowingly and fraudulently designing and intending, by the false pretences hereinafter named and set forth, to injure and defraud one Matilda K. Shepard, feloniously, unlawfully, knowingly and designedly did falsely pretend to said Matilda K. Shepard that a certain covered wagon which he the said Jacob N. Lincoln then and there had in his possession was then and there…
1Opinion of the CourtDewey, J.
The court are of opinion that this indictment may be sustained, and that it sufficiently alleges a criminal offence made punishable by Gen. Sts. c. 161, § 54. The General Statutes and the previous statutes (Rev. Sts. c. 126, § 32, and St. 1815, c. 136, § 1) greatly extended the class of cases which are punishable as the offence of obtaining property by false pretences. These statutes have often been applied to false representations made upon the sale of property although their application to cases of ordinary contracts of this kind may be somewhat qualified. But in Commonwealth v. Strain, 10…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Mathews v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma · 1921
- Moore v. PeopleAppellate Court of Illinois · 1900