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15 Wend. 395

Thompson v. Staats

New York Supreme Court

Decided May 15, 1836

New York Supreme Court · decided 1836-05-15

Error from the Albany mayor’s court. Staats sued Thompson in the justice’s court of the city of Albany for practising physic, not being authorized by law. It was proved that the defendant visited a sick man, felt his, pulse and gave him medicine, which he took, and charged and received two dollars from the patient.

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently January 1887

4 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1836-05-15

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¶1By the Court,

Nelson, J.

¶2The letters patent were properly rejected as irrelevant. They only authorize the patentee and his assigns to make, construct, use. and vend his newly discovered compound of medicine; not “ to practise physic or surgery,” within the regulations of the statutes of this state, as found in 1 R. S. 454, <§> 16 and 19. This affords a sufficient justification for the decision, if there were no other reasons for it. When the terms of the patent are broad enough to enable the patentee to put himself upon a footing with these statutes, it will be time enough, to consider the constitutional question raised by the defendant, how far the law of congress under which the patent was granted, and the laws of this state regulating the practice of physic and surgery, come in collision. The defendant pretended to no authority to practise physic under the laws of the state,.and whether he had thus practised was a question of fact which the jury found against him,

¶3Judgment affirmed.

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