Commonwealth v. Clymer
Commonwealth v. Clymer
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
It is argued that the Act of May 18, 1893, P. L. 94, is unconstitutional, because the subject of legislation is xiot cleaxiy expressed in the title. The particular objection is that the title gives no notice of the provision, contained in the fourteenth section, making a violatioxi of any of the provisions of the act, especially those relating to practicing xxxedicixxe or surgery without license and registration, a misdexxxeanor punishable by fine. Inasmuch as the subject of legislation, as expressed in the title, is the examination and licensing "of practitioners of medicine and surgery and the further regulation of the practice of medicine and surgery, any one would naturally
The admission of the testimony of the statistical clerk, who assisted in keeping the records of the medical council and the state board of medical examiners, that he had examined them and could not find the name of R. S. Clymer therein was not prejudicial error, even though this mode of proving the contents of the record was open to objection. In view of the fact that these records are voluminous and are kept at Harrisburg, and df the great .inconvenience that would be caused by com
The fact that the defendant practiced medicine as alleged in the indictment was established by abundant testimony and was not in dispute. The legal question was whether he had a right to do so; to be more explicit, whether he had complied with the provisions of the act of 1893. The record produced from the office of the prothonotary, taken in connection with .the uncontradicted testimony of the deputy, showed, that none of the papers exhibited by the defendant for the purpose of registration was a license issued by the medical council of Pennsylvania, and no such license was produced on the trial, or was proved and its nonproduction accounted for. Moreover, in the affidavit filed by the defendant with these papers the clauses of the blank relative to the exhibition of a license issued by the medical council, and to compliance with the provisions of the act of 1893, were all erased, thus showing that the defendant was careful not to assert that he had any such license, or that he had complied with the provisions of the act. In view of these facts the court was justified in expressing to the juiy his opinion as to what the verdict should be. It is often permissible and sometimes advisable for a judge in his charge to the jury to express an opinion upon the facts, provided he does it fairly and does not give a binding direction as to them: Commonwealth v. Winkelman, 12 Pa. Superior Ct. 497 and cases there cited. It is even more appropriate for him to do so where the case depends as fully as this did upon questions of law and the construction of public records. We are not convinced that the judge went farther than he was warranted in doing; indeed, even if he had still more explicitly instructed the jury that the record produced from the prothonotary’s office showed that the defendant did not exhibit to the prothonotary a license issued by the medical council of Pennsylvania, we cannot say that this would have been error.
All the assignments of error are overruled, the judgment is affirmed and the record is remitted to the court below to the end that the sentence be carried into effect.
Reference
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- Constitutional law — Title of act — Practice of medicine — License—Act of May 18, 1893, P. L. 94 — Criminal law. The Act of May 18,1893, P. L. 94, entitled “An Act to establish a Medical Council, and three State Boards of Medical Examiners, to define the powers and duties of said Medical Council and said State Boards of Medical Examiners, to provide for the examination and licensing of practitioners of medicine and surgery, to further regulate the practice of medicine and surgery, and to make an appropriation for the Medical Council,” is constitutional, and gives sufficient notice of the provision contained in sec. 14 of the act making a violation of the provisions of the act relating to the practice of medicine without a license, a misdemeanor. On a prosecution for practicing medicine without a license, a clerk in the office of the state superintendent of public construction may testify that he had examined the record of the state medical council, and that he had not found the defendant registered therein; and this is especially the case where the record produced from the office of the prothonotary shows that none of the papers filed by the defendant for the purpose of registration was a license issued by the Medical Council of the state, and that in the affidavit filed by the defendant in the prothonotary’s office the clauses of the blank relative to the state license had been all erased. In a prosecution for practicing medicine without a state license, it is not necessary for the court to instruct the jury as to the law of costs in case of acquittal.