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119 Ind. 392

State v. Burnett

Indiana Supreme Court

Decided June 18, 1889

Indiana Supreme Court · decided 1889-06-18

<p>Criminal Law. — Affidavit.—Motion to Quash. — Agreement as to Grounds of Objection. — An agreement between the prosecuting attorney and the counsel for the accused as to what objection is made to the affidavit, can not be regarded, and if the affidavit is bad it will bé so held, without reference to the ground upon which the motion to quash is rested.</p> <p>Same. — False Representations.— When not Criminal. — A criminal prosecution can not be based upon false representations which are not of such a character that a man of common understanding is justified in relying upon them.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1889-06-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently March 1911

3 state decisions

101889189019001910decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Berkshire, J. —

¶1This is an appeal by the State, as provided in section 1882, R. S. 1881. The court below quashed the affidavit, and the only question presented for our consideration is as to the correctness of that ruling.

¶2There is an agreement on file, signed by the attorney for the appellee and the prosecuting attorney, stating that the only objection made to the affidavit was that the false representations charged were not such as might deceive a man of common intelligence.

¶3We can not regard the agreement; if the affidavit was bad for any reason, whenever a motion to quash it was presented it was the duty of-the court to sustain the motion, without reference to the ground upon which the defendant’s attorney rested his motion.

¶4We are of the opinion that the affidavit was bad, for the reason that the false representations charged were not such as a man of common understanding was justified in relying upon, and because the representations consisted principally in expressions of opinion, and not of existing facts.

¶5Counsel for the State contend that as to whether the representations were calculated to deceive was a question of fact, ■and not of law. The correctness of counsel’s position depends upon the manner in which the question arises; as a question of evidence it is a question of fact, but as a question of pleading it is a question of law. The authorities to which our attention has been directed are not in opposition to the rule as we have stated it. We do not care to set out the affidavit, or even its substance.

¶6Judgment affirmed.

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