Commonwealth v. Stearns
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
An indictment against the defendant alleged that he, on the 25th of June 1845, at Charlestown, “ had in his custody and possession a certain piece of false and counterfeit coin, counterfeited in the likeness and similitude of the good and legal silver coin, current within said Commonwealth by the laws and usages thereof, called a dollar, with intent then and there to pass the same as true; he the said Stearns then and there well knowing the same to be false and counterfeit,’…
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An indictment against the defendant alleged that he, on the 25th of June 1845, at Charlestown, “ had in his custody and possession a certain piece of false and counterfeit coin, counterfeited in the likeness and similitude of the good and legal silver coin, current within said Commonwealth by the laws and usages thereof, called a dollar, with intent then and there to pass the same as true; he the said Stearns then and there well knowing the same to be false and counterfeit,’ &c. At the trial in the court of common pleas, before Colby, J. the only evidence offered against the defendant was his…
1Opinion of the CourtDewey, J.
The objection of variance between the proof sffered and the offence charged is not sustained. The crime charged in the indictment is the having in possession, &c. a certain counterfeit coin, in the likeness of á silver coin called a dollar. The evidence shows this coin to have been in the likeness and similitude of a Mexican dollar. But a Mexican dollar is not the less a dollar, nor is it inappropriately described as a dollar. The term “ dollar ” does not import a coin coined at the mint of the United States. The United States St. of 1792, c. 16, legalized the dollar of the United States…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Barbaroux v. BarkerCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1862
- Newton v. WestCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1860