Commonwealth v. Brown

For over a century the Commonwealth has outlawed living off of or otherwise sharing in money earned by a known prostitute. 1 Historically, "pimps or purveyors" have been understood to be the objects of this prohibition, although no definition of either "pimp" or "purveyor" has ever appeared in the statutory text, currently codified at G. L. c. 272, § 7. 2 Claiming that, without further clarification, the language of this statute is unconstitutionally vague and that he suffered prejudice from jury instructions tracking such language, the defendant, Jonathan E. Brown, seeks reversal of his…