Commonwealth v. Smith
| Decision Date | 08 January 1885 |
| Citation | 138 Mass. 489 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Emma Smith |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Argued November 24, 1884.
Suffolk.
Complaint to the Municipal Court of Boston, under the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, charging the defendant with keeping a house of ill-fame in Boston.
In the Superior Court, before the jury were empaneled, the defendant moved to quash the complaint, on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction, because the court to which the complaint was made had none. The judge overruled the motion; and the defendant thereupon pleaded guilty, and appealed to this court.
Exceptions overruled.
T. Riley, for the defendant.
H. N. Shepard, Assistant Attorney General, for the Commonwealth, submitted the case without argument.
OPINION
Morton J.
The keeper of a house of ill-fame may be punished either under the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, or under c. 101, § 7. Commonwealth v. Ballou, 124 Mass. 26.
The complaint in the case at bar was brought under the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, which provides that the keeper of a house of ill-fame shall be punished by imprisonment in the jail not exceeding two years. The defendant contends that the Municipal Court of the city of Boston has not jurisdiction of this offence. The Pub. Sts. c. 154, § 50, provide that the original criminal jurisdiction of that court "shall include all crimes under the degree of felony," with certain exceptions not affecting this case. As the offence charged in this case is not a felony, it follows that it is within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court of the city of Boston. Pub. Sts. c. 210, § 1.
Exceptions overruled.
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Solomon v. United States, 1671.
...under the common law or statutes of Massachusetts, is not a felony or infamous crime, but a public nuisance or misdemeanor (Commonwealth v. Smith, 138 Mass. 489; Criminal Law, Sec. 181), and under its common law would not be admissible to affect the credibility of a witness (Utley v. Merric......
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Ex parte Brown
... ... On petition for writ of habeas corpus ... P. H ... Kelley, for petitioner ... John S ... Richardson, for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ... LOWELL, ... Circuit Judge ... The ... petitioner has applied for a writ of habeas corpus to release ... That the offense of ... which the petitioner was convicted is a misdemeanor and not a ... felony was decided in Commonwealth v. Smith, 138 ... Mass. 489. There, indeed, the defendant was a man, but it is ... inconceivable that the same offense should be a misdemeanor ... or a ... ...
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Com. v. Moody
...for want of jurisdiction in the municipal court to try, determine, and punish the offense was waived at the argument. See Com. v. Smith, 138 Mass. 489. 2. objection on the ground of duplicity cannot be supported. The offense charged is not the registering of a bet, or the selling of a pool,......