¶1The indictment alleges, in the words of the statute, that the defendant, having the charge and custody of a dog, did “ knowingly and wilfully authorize and permit said dog to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering and cruelty.” St. 1869, c. 344, § 2. It further alleges that he did this by '‘ knowingly and wilfully suffering and permitting said dog to be bitten, mangled and cruelly tortured by a certain other dog.” The indictment thus alleges, with certainty, and without ambiguity, the acts charged against the defendant, and we have no doubt these acts constitute an offence within the spirit and. letter of the statute. Exceptions overruled.
113 Mass. 457
Commonwealth v. Thornton
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided November 15, 1873
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1873-11-15
Indictment alleging that Thomas Thornton, “ having the charge and custody of a certain animal, to wit, a dog, did then and there knowingly and wilfully authorize and permit said dog o be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering and cruelty, by men and there knowingly and wilfully suffering and permitting said dog to be bitten, mangled and cruelly tortured by a certain other dog.” Before the jury was empanelled and sworn, and before trial, the defendant made in the…
Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently December 2001
1 state decisions
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Decided 1873-11-15
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