State v. McGowan
Supreme Court of Connecticut
This was an information for setting fire to and burning a dwelling-house. The prisoner pleaded Not guilty; on which issue the cause was tried, at Hartford, January term, 1850. On the trial, it appeared, that the building burned was built by Norman Warner, and designed for a dwelling-house ; was constructed in the usual manner of a dwelling-house, in all particulars ; and was finished, except that it was not painted, as it was intended to be, and the glass was not set in the…
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This was an information for setting fire to and burning a dwelling-house. The prisoner pleaded Not guilty; on which issue the cause was tried, at Hartford, January term, 1850. On the trial, it appeared, that the building burned was built by Norman Warner, and designed for a dwelling-house ; was constructed in the usual manner of a dwelling-house, in all particulars ; and was finished, except that it was not painted, as it was intended to be, and the glass was not set in the sash which had been placed in the upper half of one of the outer doors. The building stood by itself, and Was not…
1Opinion of the Court
Church, Ch. J.
The statute of this state prescribes the punishment of arson, but it does not define the crime. We look to the common law for its definition.
Arson, by the common law, is the wilful and malicious burning of the house of another. The word house, as here understood, includes not merely the dwelling-house, but all out-houses which are parcel thereof. 1 Hale, 570. 4 Bla. Com. 221. 2 Russ. on Crimes, 551.
*247This information charges the accused with burning a dwelling-house, and the question in the case, is, whether the build- - ing, which was in fact burned by him, was a dwelling-house,…
2Cited by10 opinions
- Sawyer v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1931
- McGary v. . the PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1871
- Costabile v. Metropolitan Property & Casualty InsuranceDistrict Court, D. Connecticut · 2002
- Clark v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1887
- States v. KeenaSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1893
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