Commonwealth v. Prius
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The second count of this indictment alleged that the defendants, on the 1st of March 1856, owning a stock of goods in Lowell as partners, and having insurance thereon against fire by certain insurance companies named in the indictment, amounting in all to the sum of $10,000, “ did then and there corruptly, wickedly and unlawfully confederate, agree, combine and conspire together, to insure and cause to be insured on said stock ” certain other sums, amounting to $10,000 more,…
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The second count of this indictment alleged that the defendants, on the 1st of March 1856, owning a stock of goods in Lowell as partners, and having insurance thereon against fire by certain insurance companies named in the indictment, amounting in all to the sum of $10,000, “ did then and there corruptly, wickedly and unlawfully confederate, agree, combine and conspire together, to insure and cause to be insured on said stock ” certain other sums, amounting to $10,000 more, in other companies named, “ by then and there falsely pretending that said stock so by said firm kept and used in their…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, J.
The second count in the indictment, on which alone the defendants were found guilty, is fatally defective. It was not a crime in the defendants to procure an over-insurance on their stock in trade. It was at most only a civil wrong. The charge of a conspiracy to do so does not therefore amount to a criminal offence. It was not a combination to effect an unlawful purpose, and no unlawful means by which the purpose was to be effected are set out in the indictment.
The residue of the count is too uncertain and indefinite to ■ support a conviction. It amounts to nothing more than an allegation of…
2Cited by1 opinion
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