Rice v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to tlie Quarter Sessions of Lackawanna county: Of January Term 1882, No. 31. Indictment against Frederick Bice, for the seduction under an alleged promise of marriage of Margaret Bobertson, under twenty-one years of age.
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Error to tlie Quarter Sessions of Lackawanna county: Of January Term 1882, No. 31. Indictment against Frederick Bice, for the seduction under an alleged promise of marriage of Margaret Bobertson, under twenty-one years of age. On the trial, before ITandley, J., Margaret Bobertson testified, on behalf of the Commonwealth, that she was twenty years of age, and had always resided with her parents in the village of Dunmore; that she became acquainted with the defendant in 1878, and that for more than a year thereafter he “kept company” with her, generally meeting her at church'on Sunday evenings,…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Paxson
The plaintiff in error was convicted in the court below of the offence of seduction. The record having been brought into this court for review, several errors have been assigned to the rulings of the learned judge, the most material of which are the second and third.
It was palpable error to instruct the jury, that evidence to corroborate the prosecutrix in regard to the promise of marriage is no longer necessary. Upon this point the learned judge charged: “ There is no doubt but that in the early history of these cases, when the defendant was not permitted to go upon the witness stand, and…
2Cited by11 opinions
- Reiter v. ReiterSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1945
- Commonwealth v. RossSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1920
- Commonwealth v. CainSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1979
- Allen v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1909
- Smith v. ChardakSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1981
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