Commonwealth v. Josselyn
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint under the Gen. Sts. c. 84, § 1, for doing work not of necessity or charity on the Lord’s day. The work specified as done by the defendant was “ hoeing in his field.”
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Complaint under the Gen. Sts. c. 84, § 1, for doing work not of necessity or charity on the Lord’s day. The work specified as done by the defendant was “ hoeing in his field.” At the trial in the superior court, before Vose, J., the only witness for the government testified that about eight o’clock on the morning of Sunday, June 24,1866, he saw the defendant “ hoeing for about an hour in a field back of the defendant’s house; that it was a part of the defendant’s garden near the defendant’s house.” The defendant contended “that a charge of hoeing in his field was not supported by proof of…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court.
The defendant’s exceptions cannot be sustained. The complaint charged him with working on the Lord’s day by hoeing in his field; and the evidence for the Commonwealth was that he was hoeing in a field, in a part of his garden. There is no variance. Whether a garden is always a field or not, it may be in a field; and this was. The complaint was sufficient, and there was nothing to show any necessity for the defendant’s labor on that day. Exceptions overruled.
2Cited by6 opinions
- McGrath v. MerwinMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Bucher v. Fitchburg RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1881
- Commonwealth v. WhiteMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1906
- Day v. Highland Street Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Commonwealth v. McCarthyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1923
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