Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1891

Commonwealth v. Hagan

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided January 6, 1891 · Allen

152 Mass. 565; 26 N.E. 95; 1891 Mass. LEXIS 347

Cases that cite this one

2 later published cases cite this decision.

Commonwealth v. Rivers (Mass. 1940)
Commonwealth v. Slavski (Mass. 1923)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

C. Allen, J.

So far as appears, there was no evidence of any illegal sale of liquor upon the premises except in one instance, when a sale was made on a Sunday, in the absence of the defendants, by a young woman who was washing the floor. The court apparently allowed the jury to find the defendants guilty of keeping and maintaining a nuisance upon the evidence of this single *566sale. There was nothing to show that the woman was employed by the defendants in their business. There was no presumption that her act of selling liquor illegally on Sunday was sanctioned by them. We think the jury should have been instructed that this evidence was not sufficient to warrant a conviction of maintaining a nuisance. Commonwealth v. Hayes, 150 Mass. 506. Commonwealth v. Patterson, 138 Mass. 498.

Exceptions sustained.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.