Commonwealth v. Snelling
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was an indictment for a libel published in a paper called the New England Galaxy. The alleged libel was headed with the words, “ Look out for thieves,” and charged one Harrison and one Allen with having boasted, that they had won certain sums of money by gaming, on particular occasions. It also charged them with having drugged a horse previously to a race in which he was to run, by means of which they won a large sum of money, which they had betted upon the race.
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This was an indictment for a libel published in a paper called the New England Galaxy. The alleged libel was headed with the words, “ Look out for thieves,” and charged one Harrison and one Allen with having boasted, that they had won certain sums of money by gaming, on particular occasions. It also charged them with having drugged a horse previously to a race in which he was to run, by means of which they won a large sum of money, which they had betted upon the race. At the trial, before Wilde J., the defendant introduced evidence for the purpose of proving the truth of the first charge. The…
1Opinion of the Court
Shaw C. J.
delivered the opinion of the Court. This case comes before the Court upon a bill of exceptions, by which the defendant, after verdict, has brought before the • Court various objections to the decisions and instructions of the judge who tried the cause. These objections have had the fullest attention of the Court, as the importance and interesting nature of the subject required, and I am now to pronounce the result to which they have come.
1. The counsel for the defendant, in the first place, excepts to the instruction of the judge, on the subject of malice; and in his full and…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Commonwealth v. ClapMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1808
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