State v. Johnson
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On report. Indictment for being a common innholder without a license, in the city of Gardiner, during September, 1871-, under It. S., c. 27, §§ 12, 13, which provide a maximum penalty of fifty dollars to be recovered by complaint, indictment, or action of debt, for the use of the town where the offense is committed. The indictment in this case alleged the Offense in Gardiner, but did not state to whom the penalty was to go.
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On report. Indictment for being a common innholder without a license, in the city of Gardiner, during September, 1871-, under It. S., c. 27, §§ 12, 13, which provide a maximum penalty of fifty dollars to be recovered by complaint, indictment, or action of debt, for the use of the town where the offense is committed. The indictment in this case alleged the Offense in Gardiner, but did not state to whom the penalty was to go. At the finding of the indictment, two actions were pending against the defendant in behalf of the city to recover in each a penalty of fifty dollars for keeping the same…
1Opinion of the CourtWalton, J.
The defendant is indicted for being a common innholder without a license.
I. It is objected that the indictment cannot be maintained because it does not show to whom the penalty is to go. It is only when the penalty goes to the prosecutor, or to some other person or persons, of whose existence and identity the court cannot take judicial notice, that such an averment is necessary. When, as in this case, the penalty goes to the town in which the offense is committed, and the appropriation is made by a public statute of which the court can take judicial notice, and the indictment gives the name…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. MessengerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1808
3Cited by1 opinion
- Hiram Ricker & Sons v. Students International Meditation SocietySupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1975