Commonwealth v. Runge
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
| Writing for the Court | LORING |
| Citation | 121 N.E. 499,231 Mass. 598 |
| Decision Date | 06 January 1919 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. RUNGE. |
231 Mass. 598
121 N.E. 499
COMMONWEALTH
v.
RUNGE.
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.
Jan. 6, 1919.
Exceptions and Appeal from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Wm. F. Dana, Judge.
Harry L. Runge was convicted of having unlawfully held himself out as a practitioner of medicine, and he excepts and appeals. Exceptions overruled so far as the first, and sustained so far as the second, complaint is concerned, and entry of waiver of appeal ordered.
[231 Mass. 599]A. C. Webber, Asst. Dist. Atty., of Boston, for the Commonwealth.
John P. Feeney, of Boston, for defendant.
LORING, J.
These were two complaints, the second complaint charging the defendant with having unlawfully held himself out ‘as a practitioner of medicine’ (in violation of R. L. c. 76, § 8), between March 3, 1915, and August 3, 1915. At the trial the government did not put in evidence any such act between the dates named. But it did introduce evidence of [231 Mass. 600]one such act on February 21, 1914, and of another on February 12, 1915. The presiding judge instructed the jury that, if the defendant held himself out as a practitioner of medicine upon any occasion preceding the date alleged in the complaint and within a period of six years next before that date they could find the defendant guilty. To this ruling the defendant took the exceptions which are now before us.
[1] The offense created by R. L. c. 76, § 8, may be committed by a single act or by a series of continuous acts; that is to say, it may consist of a single offense or of a continuing offense. In the case at bar the government elected to charge the defenant with a series of acts committed between March 3, 1915, and August 3, 1915, which constituted the continuing offense of illegally holding himself out as a practitioner of medicine. When a defendant is charged with a series of acts as a continuing offense, the offense charged is a single indivisible offense and a part of the description of the offense charged is the duration of time during which it is charged in the indictment the series of acts took place. That was decided in Com. v. Robinson, 126 Mass. 259, 30 Am. Rep. 674. In that case the defendant was complained of for keeping a liquor nuisance between January 1 and August 20. He pleaded in bar that he had been acquitted on a complaint charging him with having kept the same illegal liquor nuisance from January 1 to May 28. It was held that the acquittal was a bar. The decision was made on the ground that a continuing offense for a period named is one indivisible offense, and since the...
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...Commonwealth v. Peretz, 212 Mass. 253, 254, 98 N.E. 1054 (deriving support from earnings of a prostitute), and Commonwealth v. Runge, 231 Mass. 598, 600, 121 N.E. 499 (practising medicine unlawfully). In such cases, if a continuing crime is charged, it is the general practice, throughout th......
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...v. Goulet, 160 Mass. 276, 35 N.E. 780;Commonwealth v. Peretz, 212 Mass. 253, 254, 98 N.E. 1054, Ann.Cas.1913D, 484;Commonwealth v. Runge, 231 Mass. 598, 121 N.E. 499. Of course attachment of the person is impossible in the case of a municipality or other corporation. But like other corporat......
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...the later loan. The evidence was relevant. See Commonwealth v. Stasiun, 349 Mass. 38, 46--47, 206 N.E.2d 672. Cf. Commonwealth v. Runge, 231 Mass. 598, 600, 121 N.E. The somewhat ambiguous evidence of Edwin Small concerning a 1966 loan to him by Alexander Celeste, at most [354 Mass. 224] te......
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...a lottery); Commonwealth v. Peretz, 212 Mass. 253, 98 N.E. 1054 (deriving support from a prostitute's earnings); Commonwealth v. Runge, 231 Mass. 598, 121 N.E. 499 (unlawfully practising [350 Mass. 87] In People v. Cox, 286 N.Y. 137, 36 N.E.2d 84, 136 A.L.R. 943, the defendant, a turnstile ......
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...Commonwealth v. Peretz, 212 Mass. 253, 254, 98 N.E. 1054 (deriving support from earnings of a prostitute), and Commonwealth v. Runge, 231 Mass. 598, 600, 121 N.E. 499 (practising medicine unlawfully). In such cases, if a continuing crime is charged, it is the general practice, throughout th......
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