Bradford v. Knights

The plaintiff, William Bradford, obtained a judgment from a single justice of this court pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, vacating a scheduled rehearing before a justice of the Boston Municipal Court Department (BMC) of a citizen’s application for a criminal complaint. The criminal complaint had earlier been denied by a clerk of that court. Such a hearing does not deprive Bradford of a substantive right and therefore relief pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, would not usually be available. The general importance of the question presented to us for the first time makes it appropriate, however, for…