Commonwealth v. Humphries
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The defendant was indicted for a robbery, at this term, and was tried and convicted at the sittings after the term before Sewall, J., by whom I have been furnished with the following note of the case, which was read by him in Court previously to the prisoner’s being sentenced.
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The defendant was indicted for a robbery, at this term, and was tried and convicted at the sittings after the term before Sewall, J., by whom I have been furnished with the following note of the case, which was read by him in Court previously to the prisoner’s being sentenced. “ In the indictment, upon which the prisoner at the bar stands convicted, the allegations are, that with force and arms, in the public highway, he feloniously assaulted- one Peter Tracy, and one silver watch and watch-key, of his goods, &fc., from the person and against the will of the said Peter, in the highivay…
1Opinion of the Court
*205The result of this inquiry is, that we are not restrained by the common law definition of robbery, or by any precise form of the indictment, as to the circumstance in question; and without depart:ng from any established principle, the construction may be, what the words cited certainly admit, that a larceny committed with actual force and violence, or with a constructive force by any assault and putting in fear, is to be adjudged a robbery; and that in this respect the statute has preserved the definition of the crime, as it was described and punished by the common law
2Cited by16 opinions
- Commonwealth v. RichardsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1973
- Commonwealth v. JonesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1972
- Commonwealth v. NovickiMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1949
- Commonwealth v. MahoneyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1954
- Houston v. CommonwealthSupreme Court of Virginia · 1890
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