Commonwealth v. Shattuck
Commonwealth v. Shattuck
Opinion of the Court
The St. of 1855, c. 405, § 1, declares “ all buildings, places or tenements, used for the illegal sale or keeping of intoxicating liquors,” to be common nuisances. The defendant kept and occupied the whole building described in the indictment, but used only two rooms in it for the sale of intoxicating liquors. The court was asked to rule that the government must prove that the whole building was used for the illegal purpose charged. But the defendant kept the whole building, and used such part of it as he pleased for his illegal employment. It has been decided, in Commonwealth v. McCaughey, Bristol, 1857, where a defendant occupied but one tenement in a building, the rest of the building being held by other tenants, that it was incorrect, and a variance, to charge him in the indictment
It is therefore clear that under an indictment for keeping a building as a nuisance contrary to the statute above cited, it is sufficient to show that the defendant kept the whole building described, and used some part of it for the illegal purpose, without proof that the whole of it was so used. If the description had been of a single room, it would have been open to the same objection, as it would be impossible to show that every corner and fraction of its area was actually employed in the illegal traffic. It is sufficient if the defendant’s building or tenement be correctly described, and the nuisance proved to be maintained within it. Exceptions overruled
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Commonwealth v. Richard W. Shattuck
- Status
- Published