Commonwealth v. Giaccio

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Roberts,

In the context of current interpretations of the Constitutions of the United States and of this Commonwealth, we are asked to declare invalid the Act of *141March 31, 1860, P. L. 427, §62, 19 P.S. §1222,1 which permits the imposition by a jury of costs on defendants acquitted of misdemeanors.2 The Act specifically provides: “In all prosecutions, cases of felony excepted, if the bill of indictment shall be returned ignoramus, the grand jury returning the same shall decide and certify on such bill whether the county or the prosecutor shall pay the costs of prosecution;…