Foster v. Beaty
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
This was an application for a writ of certiorari, to qüash a record of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in a prosecutioii there, wherein the petitioner had been adjudged the putative father of a bastard child.
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This was an application for a writ of certiorari, to qüash a record of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in a prosecutioii there, wherein the petitioner had been adjudged the putative father of a bastard child. The respondent, it appeared, had made complaint to a Justice of the Peace, charging the petitioner as the father of a bastard child of which she was then pregnant; whereupon he was apprehended by virtue of a warrant issued by the Justice, and gave bond for his appearance at the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in which Court a trial was afterwards had by jury. But no accusation or…
1Opinion of the Court
Mellen C. J.
In all indictments such facts must be stated as, if proved, will justify a conviction and sentence. In civil actions too, the declaration must state a good cause of action, and there must be an averment of all those facts which it is necessary should be proved to entitle the plaintiff to a verdict. In looking into the record produced to support this application, it appears to be grossly defective. Some of the most important facts necessary to justify a verdict against the original defendant are totally omitted. No declaration was ever filed in the cause; no plea given ; of course…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Glidden v. Bath Iron Works Corp.Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1947
- State v. HackettSupreme Court of Rhode Island · 1883