Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1869

Commonwealth v. Hyneman

Commonwealth v. Hyneman
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided January 15, 1869 · Chapman
101 Mass. 30

Commonwealth v. Hyneman

Opinion of the Court

Chapman, C. J.

The defendant is found guilty of selling intoxicating liquors on the Lord’s day, contrary to the provisions of St. 1868, c. 141. He has a license; but, by § 10, the license does not authorize him to sell on that day. But he offered to prove that he was a Jew, conscientiously believing that the seventh day is the Sabbath. His conscientious belief might protect him from a prosecution for violating the provisions of the Gen. Sts. c. 84, by acts of secular labor on the Lord’s day (see § 9), provided he violated no other law. But it is no excuse for his violation of the law respecting the sale of intoxicating liquors. Exceptions overruled.

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