Commonwealth v. Certain Intoxicating Liquors
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Complaint under Gen. Sts. c. 86, § 42, for a warrant of search for certain intoxicating liquors, alleged in said complaint to be “kept and deposited by Joseph R. Robinson of Hardwick in Worcester County, in a certain distillery there situate about one and one half miles northeasterly from Hardwick Furnace.”
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Complaint under Gen. Sts. c. 86, § 42, for a warrant of search for certain intoxicating liquors, alleged in said complaint to be “kept and deposited by Joseph R. Robinson of Hardwick in Worcester County, in a certain distillery there situate about one and one half miles northeasterly from Hardwick Furnace.” The warrant issued thereon recited that whereas the complainants “on oath complain to the police court of the city of Worcester in said county,” “ that they do believe that on April 23,1867, at said Worcester, certain intoxicating liquors” “ar.e kept and deposited by Joseph R. Robinson of…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, C. J.
We think that these proceedings cannot be sustained. The warrant is clearly insufficient, because it does not designate the building or place to be searched with such distinctness and particularity as clearly to describe and identify it. Such designation is expressly required by the statute. Gen. Sts. c. 86, § 44. The allegation in the warrant leaves it uncertain whether the distillery in which it is averred that the liquors are deposited is situated in the town of Hardwick or the city of Worcester.
But if this difficulty could be overcome, and it should be held that the place was sufficiently…
2Cited by4 opinions
- State ex rel. King v. District CourtMontana Supreme Court · 1924
- Smith v. McDuffeeOregon Supreme Court · 1914
- Metcalf v. WeedSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1889
- State v. Spirituous LiquorsSupreme Court of New Hampshire · 1894