Hamilton v. Commonwealth
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error from the Oyer and Terminer of Lancaster county. This case came before the court on an application made by George Ford, attorney for the defendant in the court below, for a special allocatur for a writ of error, for cause shown, and the presentation of an authenticated copy of the record, &e., as follows, viz: Commonwealth v. James Hamilton, otherwise James Thacker. August Session, 1847. Indictment, 1st, 2d, and 3d counts, murder; 4th count, manslaughter. True bill.
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Error from the Oyer and Terminer of Lancaster county. This case came before the court on an application made by George Ford, attorney for the defendant in the court below, for a special allocatur for a writ of error, for cause shown, and the presentation of an authenticated copy of the record, &e., as follows, viz: Commonwealth v. James Hamilton, otherwise James Thacker. August Session, 1847. Indictment, 1st, 2d, and 3d counts, murder; 4th count, manslaughter. True bill. April 21, 1847. Same day, the defendant, James Hamilton, otherwise called James Thacker, being arraigned in open court,…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was. delivered May 20, by
Gibson, C. J.
The artistic form in which the sentence stands *133recorded, proves that the clerk of the court had consulted a precedent. The verb is in the present tense and third person, and the words of the pronouncing judge are not put down exactly as they dropped from his lips. Even the prayer for mercy is properly omitted, as it is no part of the judgment. So far all is unusually well. But for every thing besides, it is plain from the journalizing of the proceedings in the past tense, that the clerk’s knowledge of the principles and forms of…
2Cited by10 opinions
- Commonwealth v. GaborSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1904
- Ronald Couch v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1956
- State v. RodriguezIdaho Supreme Court · 1969
- State v. AshworthSupreme Court of Missouri · 1940
- Commonwealth v. SenauskasSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1937
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