Commonwealth v. Byrnes
| Decision Date | 30 January 1879 |
| Citation | 126 Mass. 248 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Martin Byrnes |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Argued November 25, 1878
Middlesex. Complaint on the St. of 1875, c. 99, § 1, to the First District Court of Southern Middlesex, alleging that the defendant, on April 27, 1878, at Framingham in the county of Middlesex, "unlawfully did expose and keep for sale intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same within this Commonwealth, against the peace of said Commonwealth and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided."
Before judgment in the District Court, the defendant moved to quash the complaint, "because there is no sufficient allegation that the defendant was not authorized by law to do the acts therein mentioned," and for other reasons not now necessary to be stated.
This motion was overruled, and the defendant was convicted, and appealed to the Superior Court, and there renewed his motion to quash. Bacon, J., overruled the motion; and thereupon the defendant pleaded guilty, and the questions of law, arising at the trial upon the motion so overruled, being in the opinion of the presiding judge so important and doubtful as to require the decision of this court, were reported, at the desire and request of the defendant, for its consideration and determination.
Complaint quashed.
F. F Heard, for the defendant.
C. R Train, Attorney General, & J. F. Brown, Assistant Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.
Upon objections to a complaint, specifically assigned by demurrer or motion to quash, filed before judgment in the District Court, and renewed in the Superior Court upon appeal, the decision of the Superior Court is subject to revision by this court on bill of exceptions. St. 1864, c. 250 § 2. Commonwealth v. McGovern, 10 Allen 193. Commonwealth v. Walton, 11 Allen 238. The Gen. Sts. c. 173, § 8, authorize any question of law arising "upon the trial of a person convicted in the Superior Court," which in the opinion of the presiding judge is so important or so doubtful as to require the decision of this court, to be reversed, at the desire or with the consent of the defendant, upon report; and apply as well to questions arising upon the trial of an issue of law, as to questions of law arising upon the trial of an issue of fact. Commonwealth v. Boston & Albany Railroad, 121 Mass. 36. The objections to the sufficiency of the allegations in this complaint are therefore properly before us.
By the St. of 1875, c....
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