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121 Mass. 66

Commonwealth v. Coffey

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided October 25, 1876

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1876-10-25

Indictment against John A. Coffey, David Prior, and Frank Cotey, for an assault and battery upon Mary Prior on August 16, 1875.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently June 2015

2 state decisions

Cited in Bouvier (1914)’s definition of “Battery”

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1876-10-25

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

By the Court.

¶1The judge below ruled, as requested by the defendants and admitted by the district attorney at the trial, that the father was entitled to the custody of his daughter, and submitted the case to the jury under instructions not excepted to.

¶2The only matter of exception is to the refusal to rule that the evidence was insufficient in law to warrant a conviction. But the jury, upon the evidence stated in the bill, might well find the defendants guilty, upon the ground that they used force which was excessive and unjustifiable in the sick condition of the daughter, or upon the ground that them acts were not done in the exercise or support of the rightful authority of the father, but in the execution of a scheme of the defendant Coffey, and under his direction and control only. Exceptions overruled.

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