Commonwealth v. Catlin
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an indictment against the defendant, grounded on stat. 1784, c. 40, § 6, and contained three counts. The first count stated that on the last day of July, 1803, at-, the defendant, being then and there a married man, did commit open gross levvdness and lascivious behavior, and did [ * 9 ] then * and there lewdly and lasciviously lie on a bed with one A. D., she, the said A. D., then and there not being the wife of the defendant.
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This was an indictment against the defendant, grounded on stat. 1784, c. 40, § 6, and contained three counts. The first count stated that on the last day of July, 1803, at-, the defendant, being then and there a married man, did commit open gross levvdness and lascivious behavior, and did [ * 9 ] then * and there lewdly and lasciviously lie on a bed with one A. D., she, the said A. D., then and there not being the wife of the defendant. The second count was similar to the first, excepting that it charged the act to be, that the defendant did lewdly and lasciviously put his arms about the said…
1Opinion of the Court
The Court
(Strong Sedgwick, Sewall, and Thatcher, justices) were unanimously of opinion, and Strong, J., who charged thejury, stated it as the unanimous opinion of the Court, that although it might be true that the facts proved amounted to an offence, yet that they did not prove the offence charged in the indictment; that the offence charged is open gross lewdness and lascivious behavior, and nothing more: admitting every thing which has been testified to be true, there is certainly nothing more proved than secret or private lewdness and lascivious behavior, which cannot in any degree support…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Commonwealth v. WardellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
- Commonwealth v. FergusonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1981
- State v. MillardSupreme Court of Vermont · 1846
- Commonwealth v. KesslerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2004
- Commonwealth v. TemplemanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1978
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