Craig Benefit v. City of Cambridge

General Laws c. 272, § 66, provides that “[pjersons wandering abroad and begging, or who go about from door to door or in public or private ways, areas to which the general public is invited, or in other places for the purpose of begging or to receive alms, and who are not licensed” may be imprisoned for up to six months. The plaintiff, Craig Benefit, filed a complaint on July 9, 1992, in the Superior Court seeking (1) a declaration under G. L. c. 231 A, that G. L. c. 272, § 66, is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and arts. 1 and 16…