Munkley v. Hoyt

• Decision Date: 23 May 1901
• Citation: 60 N.E. 413,179 Mass. 108
• Parties: MUNKLEY v. HOYT et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

179 Mass. 108

60 N.E. 413

MUNKLEY v. HOYT et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

May 23, 1901

COUNSEL

John F. Lynch, for petitioner.

H. M Knowlton, Atty. Gen., and F. H. Nash, Asst. Dist. Atty., for board of registration in pharmacy.

OPINION

HAMMOND J.

The petitioner pleaded guilty to a complaint pending in the superior court charging him with an unlawful sale of intoxicating liquor, whereupon, on his motion, the court ordered the complaint placed on file, and there has since been no other order or proceeding in the case. The question is whether, upon these facts, the petitioner has been convicted, within the meaning of St. 1896, c. 397, § 9. The word 'conviction' is used in at least two different senses in our statutes. In Com. v. Lockwood, 109 Mass. 323, 325, 12 Am. Rep. 699, Gray, J., uses this language: 'The ordinary legal meaning of 'conviction,' when used to designate a particular stage of a criminal prosecution triable by a jury, is the confession of the accused in open court, or the verdict returned against him by the jury, which ascertains and publishes the fact of his guilt; while 'judgment' or 'sentence' is the appropriate word to denote the action of the court before which the trial is had, declaring the consequences to the convict of the fact thus ascertained;' and he cites authorities which amply sustain the proposition. This, then, is the usual, and altogether the most common, meaning of the word 'convection.' When, however, it 'is used to describe the effect of the guilt of the accused as judicially proved in one case when pleaded or given in evidence in another, it is sometimes used in a more comprehensive sense including the judgment of the court upon the verdict or confession of guilt.' Com. v. Lockwood, ubi supra. There are two cases in our Reports where the word is used in this latter and less usual sense. The first is Com. v Gorham, 99 Mass. 420, in which it was held that the word, as used in the statute providing that the conviction of a witness of a crime may be shown to affect his credibility, implies a judgment of the court, the ground of the decision being that at common law the production of the full record, including not only the conviction, but the judgment therein, was necessary to show that a witness was incompetent on account of infamy, and that the intention of the statute was to restore the competency of the witness against whom the record of a crime is produced, but to permit the same evidence to be used as affecting his credibility. The second is Com. v. Kiley, 150 Mass. 325, 23 N.E. 55, in which the word 'conviction' in St. 1887, c. 392, providing that the conviction of a licensee for violation of certain provisions of the law relating to intoxicating liquors shall 'of itself' make his license void, was held to have a like meaning. In this case the court said that the effect of a conviction is to deprive the defendant of a valuable right, without an opportunity for further trial or investigation, and that by subsequent proceedings in the same court it might finally turn out that the defendant is not guilty. St. 1896, c. 397, establishes a board of registration in pharmacy, consisting of five persons, whose duty it is to examine applicants for registration as pharmacists, and to issue certificates to those who are found qualified. Section 5. The seventh section provides that the board shall hear all complaints made to them against any registered pharmacist, charging him with certain kinds of misconduct in the business of pharmacy, which are in the statute set forth, and especially with...