People v. Minnock
| Decision Date | 08 February 1884 |
| Citation | 18 N.W. 390,52 Mich. 628 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. MINNOCK. |
A complaint which charges the defendant with having "sold and delivered spirituous liquors," without alleging any sale to a particular person, or identifying any act as illegal, is void for uncertainty.
Error to Oakland.
J.J. Van Riper, for the People.
Baldwin, Draper & Jacokes, for defendant.
The record in this case shows that defendant was prosecuted under a complaint which merely charged that on a day named he did "sell, furnish to, give, and deliver spirituous liquors, malt liquors, brewed liquors, fermented liquors, and vinous liquors, without having given bond as required by the Laws of 1881, p. 350. The complaint alleged no sale or other delivery to any person or persons, and did not identify any act or acts as illegal. This defect is alleged as ground for setting aside the conviction. There is nothing in the record except the complaint to identify the charge. We think the objection is well taken. The elementary principles of criminal law require every charge to be made with proper averments of time, place, and person or circumstance. The respondent cannot without such averments know what he is to meet. The section under which the charge is made does not attempt to punish as a single offense the setting up of a contraband business as a business, and the punishment for such extensive action would hardly be confined to the small penalties of section 6, which are undoubtedly designed to reach single offenses. The complaint does not allege the establishment of such a business as a business. It is merely an imperfect charge of what was intended to include some single transgression. As such it is invalid for the uncertainty.
The judgment must be reversed and the prisoner discharged without day.
(The other justices concurred.)
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People v. Swindlehurst
...E.g. People v. Keefer, 97 Mich. 15, 56 N.W. 105 (1893); People v. Heffron, 53 Mich. 527, 19 N.W. 170 (1884); People v. Minnock, 52 Mich. 628, 18 N.W. 390 (1884). However, they have not been relied on since Brown v. Hadwin, 182 Mich. 491, 148 N.W. 693 (1914). Further, we note that leave to a......
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State v. Clark
...state such name is demurrable. Buckley v. State, 2 G. Greene, 162;State v. McConkey, 20 Iowa, 574; State v. Allen, supra; People v. Minnock, 52 Mich. 628, 18 N. W. 390;State v. Murphy, 17 R. I. 698, 24 Atl. 473, 16 L. R. A. 550; State v. Brandt, supra. It would seem to require no argument t......
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State v. Clark
... ... Buckley v. State, 2 G. Greene. 162; State v ... McConkey, 20 Iowa 574; State v. Allen, ... supra; [141 Iowa 302] People" v ... Minnock, 52 Mich. 628 (18 N.W. 390); State v ... Murphy, 17 R.I. 698 (24 A. 473, 16 L. R. A. 550); ... State v. Brandt, supra ... \xC2" ... ...
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People v. Heffron
...act of selling, etc., to some person. This point was distinctly decided at the January term of this court, in the case of People v. Minnock, 18 N.W. 390, and it unnecessary to add anything to what is there said. We think the respondent should have made the specific objections to the affidav......