Commonwealth v. Wood
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint for wilfully and cruelly overdriving a horse. At the trial, on appeal, in the Superior Court in Suffolk, before Devens, J., the Commonwealth introduced evidence that the defendant hired the horse from a livery stable and overdrove it, and it appeared that the defendant was at the time a minor The defendant introduced evidence that he had not overdriven the horse, and that he at any rate had not wilfully done so ; and also to what extent he was acquainted with…
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Complaint for wilfully and cruelly overdriving a horse. At the trial, on appeal, in the Superior Court in Suffolk, before Devens, J., the Commonwealth introduced evidence that the defendant hired the horse from a livery stable and overdrove it, and it appeared that the defendant was at the time a minor The defendant introduced evidence that he had not overdriven the horse, and that he at any rate had not wilfully done so ; and also to what extent he was acquainted with horses and had to do with them. The defendant offered evidence tending to show that the owners of the stable had been…
1Opinion of the CourtAmes, J.
The evidence that the owners of the- stable had been requested, on a former occasion, not to let horses to the defendant, was properly excluded. The question for the jury was whether he committed the offence charged against him ; not whether it was discreet or judicious to give him the opportunity to commit it.
The defendant’s mother, being called by him, had testified that she had seen him driving the horse, and that he was not then overdriving. It was within the ordinary limits of cross-examinatian for the prosecution to ask her whether she had not said, in speaking of the case, that the…
2Cited by5 opinions
- Commonwealth v. RussMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919
- Whipple v. RichMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1902
- Commonwealth v. MagoonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1898
- People v. FarleyAppellate Division of the Superior Court of California · 1973
- People v. FarleyCalifornia Court of Appeal · 1973