Commonwealth v. Whittaker

This is an indictment under the Gen. Sts. o. 165, § 2; and it is charged therein that the two women enticed by the defendant to a house of ill fame for purposes of prostitution were of chaste life and conversation. The presiding judge instructed the jury that it was incumbent upon the government to prove upon all the evidence that the women were of chaste life and conversation; but he added that, “ in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is a presumption of law that they were of chaste life and conversation.” This instruction permitted the jury to find, that the burden upon the…