Commonwealth v. Weiner
Commonwealth v. Weiner
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The indictment upon which the defendant was tried and convicted, in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia County, contained three counts, charging, in appropriate language, distinct offenses, (1) Keeping and maintaining, a common, ill-governed and disorderly house and place, (2) Keeping and maintaining a bawdyhouse, and (3) Frequenting a bawdyhouse. The jury rendered a general verdict of guilty as indicted and the court sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of one thousand dollars and undergo an imprisonment for the term of two years. The defendant appeals from that judgment.
The first specification of error is not supported by an exception taken in the court below and, as it refers to a mere incident of the trial, must be disregarded. The second and third specifications of error refer to excerpts from the charge of the court, which, if they were all'that the court said with regard to the matter, might be the subject of criticism, but a judgment is not to be reversed because one sentence of a charge, wrested from its context, might be deemed inadequate. In determining whether a charge is erroneous we must consider the entire charge, as applied to the matters upon which the jury, under the evidence, was required to pass. The court properly defined to the jury the offenses with.which the defendant was charged, fairly reviewed the evidence of the Commonwealth and of the defendant and instructed the jury that if they had a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant it was their duty to acquit him. The argument of the appellant, so far as it refers to the second and third specifications of error, is not that the charge was unfair or that it involved any affirmative error, but that as to the charge of keeping a disorderly house it was inadequate. It is contended in the brief of the appellant that the court ought to have charged the jury that to warrant a conviction upon the charge of keeping a disorderly house the burden was upon the Commonwealth to establish “that by loud or boisterous
The fifth specification of error raises the question of the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court to try the defendant, “for the reason that the transcript, and bill of indictment predicated thereon, were made returnable to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County,”
The judgment is affirmed and it is ordered that the defendant appear in the court below at such time as he may be there called and that he be by that court committed until he has complied with the sentence or any part of it. which had not been performed at the time this appeal was made a supersedeas.
Reference
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- Onminal' law — Disorderly house — Bttwdyhouse—Instructions. On the trial of an indictment (1) for maintaining a-disorderly house and (2) for maintaining a bawdyhouse, a general conviction will not be set aside because the trial judge failed to charge that the Commonwealth, in order to establish the offense of keeping a disorderly house, must show “that by loud or boisterous sounds the neighborhood was inconvenienced,” where no request for such instructions was asked at the trial. Even if such instructions were proper, which the appellate court does not decide, the conviction being general, would be sustained by the count relating to the keeping of a bawdyhouse. Appeals — Assignments of error — jEvidence. An assignment of error to the admission of testimony will not be considered, where the assignment does hot include the testimony, and does not refer to the page of the appendix where it might be found. Court — Municipal CouH of Philadelphia County — Jurisdiction—. Quarter Sessions — Acts of July 12, 1918, P. L. 715, and June 17, 1915, P. L. 1017 — Criminal law. A bill of indictment made returnable to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County, may be tried in the Municipal Court of Philadelphia County, if the district attorney so elects, and if a defendant appears in person and by counsel, and the case is heard upon its merits, he cannot be heard to complain that the court had no jurisdiction of his person, if it had jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the cause, although his recognizance might not be adequate to compel his appearance in the Municipal Court; nor can he object after such a conviction that the record had not been certified from the Quarter Sessions and that it did not appear upon the record that the district attorney had in the court in which the indictment was found, signified his election to try the case in the Municipal Court.