United States v. Miller
United States v. Miller
Opinion of the Court
(charging jury). This is a civil action brought against the defendant for the purpose of recovering a penalty of $300, which, it is alleged, he has incurred in consequence of a failure to comply with one of the provisions of an act passed July 13, 1866. (The judge here read the sections of the act above given, and proceeded.) This suit is founded upon the allegation that the defendant neglected to enter or cause to be entered, from day to day, in a book which the statute provides shall be kept by him for that purpose, an account of all material purchas
In reference to that question, gentlemen, it is proper that I should say to you, in the first place, that, after the evidence given on the part of the United States, making out a prima facie case against the defendant for not keeping this book, by the ordinary rules of the common law and by a statute passed by congress for that purpose, the burden is east upon the defendant to show he did keep such a book, and made the entries by law required. You are therefore to consider whether the evidence in this case establishes the fact that he did keep a separate book, in which was entered from day to day what was required by the provision of this statute to be entered. It was not necessary, in my judgment, that he should purchase a book precisely in the form of the one that has been produced here; but he should make the required entries in a separate book, and the entries therein should be such as to enable the officers of the government to ascertain, without examination of other entries, what it was intended they should be able to ascertain by the book required by this statute. The object of requiring a separate book doubtless was that the officers of internal revenue, when they required an examination, should not be compelled to look through the ordinary books of the brewery, or through any other book except the one that contains the precise entries required by law. The object of the book was-to give to the officers information of the quantity of materials delivered, so that they could, by inquiry elsewhere or by further examination, reach the evidence that the book was incorrect, if it was in fact incorrect. You will, of course, readily perceive the object of keeping the book, and also the object of requiring these entries to be made in a separate book, so as to facilitate the examinations that might be required, in the interests of the government, on the part of the revenue officers.
The question for you to consider, under the proofs in this case, is whether the evidence establishes the fact that during the whole period embraced in this information, which is from May 22, 1870, to the 13th of March, 1871, the defendant kept such a book as the statute requires, and made the entries required therein from day to day, in such manner as to furnish the information which the statute requires to be furnished to the officers by such a book when they apply for its examination. That is the only question, as I understand it, that you are-called upon to consider in this case.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES v. MILLER
- Status
- Published