Webb v. Commonwealth
Webb v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court. There is no offence, either at common law or under any statute, laid in the first count of the information. And the second count is not sustained by the facts proved at the trial; for they do not prove, that Webb built his mill since the 1st January 1820, but that he rebuilt an old previous^ existing mill. The judgment might have been reversed, and a new trial ordered, if the circuit court had been authorized by law to proceed by way of information. But the circuit court had no authority to proceed by way of information. The statute for regulating criminal proceedings, 1 Rev. C.ode, ch. 169, fj 65, p. 614, provides, that if on a presentment to a circuit court, the penalty exceed not twenty dollars, no information thereupon shall be filed; but a summons shall be issued against the defendant to answer the presentment; and the court shall, in a summary way, without a jury1-, hear and determine the matter of the presentment, in the form in which it shall have been made, and give judgment thereupon, according to law and the very
MilIs. — See generally, monographic note on "Mills and Milldams” appended to Calhoun v. Palmer, 8 Gratt. 88.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Webb v. The Commonwealth
- Status
- Published