Commonwealth v. Desmond
| Decision Date | 08 November 1877 |
| Citation | 123 Mass. 407 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Jeremiah Desmond |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Essex. Indictment on the St. of 1874, c. 356, for illegal voting, found by the grand jury empanelled at January term 1876 of the Superior Court. After a verdict of guilty, the defendant, at January term 1877, moved in arrest of judgment, for the reason that "the statute, under which the indictment was framed, was repealed by the St. of 1876, c. 172," passed April 26, 1876.
The motion was overruled; and the defendant alleged exceptions.
Exceptions overruled.
C. A. Benjamin, for the defendant.
W. C. Loring, Assistant Attorney General, (C. R. Train, Attorney General, with him,) for the Commonwealth.
By the St. of 1869, c. 410, entitled "an act to establish certain rules for the construction of repealing statutes," it is enacted that "in the construction of all statutes hereafter enacted the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be repugnant to the express terms of the same statute." The general rules so established are to be deemed part of every repealing statute since passed, as much as if expressly inserted therein, unless the later statute clearly manifests a different intention. One of these rules is that the repeal of an act shall not affect any prosecution pending at the time of the repeal for an offence committed under the act repealed. The St. of 1876, c. 172, § 4, which simply enacts that the St. of 1874, c. 356, "is hereby repealed," does not therefore affect this prosecution, which was pending under the St. of 1874 when the St. of 1876 was passed.
Exceptions overruled.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Raalte v. Harrington
... ... jury as prayed by plaintiff constitutes reversible error. R ... S. 1889, secs. 6594, 6596, 6598; Commonwealth v ... Desmond, 123 Mass. 407; Rogers v. Railroad, 35 ... Mo. 153; State v. Proctor, 90 Mo. 334; State v ... Railroad, 32 F. 722; Jennings v ... ...
-
Murphy v. Commonwealth
...effect, this difficulty will be avoided. See Pub.St. c. 3, § 3, cls. 1, 2; Com. v. Sullivan, 150 Mass. 315, 23 N.E. 47;Com. v. Desmond, 123 Mass. 407;King v. Tirrell, 2 Gray, 331;Bank v. Copeland, 7 Allen, 139; Gardner v. Lucas, 3 App.Cas. 582, [52 N.E. 511]590; Appeal of Lambard, 88 Me. 58......
-
Murphy v. Commonwealth
... ... general rule that statutes are to be construed ... prospectively,--to apply to sentences for offenses committed ... after it took effect, this difficulty will be avoided. See ... Pub.St. c. 3, § 3, cls. 1, 2; Com. v. Sullivan, 150 ... Mass. 315, 23 N.E. 47; Com. v. Desmond, 123 Mass ... 407; King v. Tirrell, 2 Gray, 331; Bank v ... Copeland, 7 Allen, 139; Gardner v. Lucas, 3 ... App.Cas. 582, [52 N.E. 511] 590; Appeal of Lambard, 88 ... Me. 587, 34 A. 530 ... The ... result is that, the only error being an error in the ... sentence, ... ...
-
Com. v. Benoit
...4, § 6, First and Second] are to be deemed part of every repealing statute * * * as much as if expressly inserted therein.' Commonwealth v. Desmond, 123 Mass. 407. Thus the issue is, had the defendants, by committing offences in 1959 or 1960, 'incurred' a 'punishment [or] penalty' within th......