Commonwealth v. Cain
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment containing three counts. The first count charged the burning of a dwelling-house in the night time; the second charged the burning of a barn in the night time, by means of which said dwelling-house was burned and consumed; the third charged the burning in the night time of a barn within the curtilage of said dwelling-house.
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Indictment containing three counts. The first count charged the burning of a dwelling-house in the night time; the second charged the burning of a barn in the night time, by means of which said dwelling-house was burned and consumed; the third charged the burning in the night time of a barn within the curtilage of said dwelling-house. In the superior court, before the jury were impanelled, the district attorney stated that the different counts related to the same general burning, and were intended to meet such state of the facts as should appear from the evidence. Thereupon the defendant…
1Opinion of the CourtAmes, J.
By the terms of the St. of 1861, c. 181, “two or more counts, describing different offences, may be set forth in the same complaint or indictment, depending upon the same facts or transactions; provided that the complaint or indictment shall contain an averment that the different counts therein' are different descriptions of the same act.” The meaning of this statute seems to be, that, if the prosecutor should desire to secure the advantage of presenting the same subject matter in several distinct forms, and describing the same act in several different ways, without being driven to his…
2Cited by15 opinions
- Attorney General v. TuftsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1921
- Commonwealth v. CostelloMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Commonwealth v. AdamsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1879
- Commonwealth v. HolmesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1875
- Commonwealth v. SullivanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1870
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