State v. LaBore

Decided November 15, 1854

Supreme Court of Vermont · decided 1854-11-15

Indictment for bigamy. The first count set forth, “ that Rob- “ ert LaBore, of Potton, Canada East, on the — day of-, “ A. D. 18 — , at --, in ■-, did marry one Catherine “ Pratt, and her, the said Catherine, then and there had for his “ wife, and that the said Robert LaBore afterwards, to wit, on the “ 24th day of April, A. D. 1853, at Marshfield, in said county of “ Washington, with force and arms, at said Marshfield, feloniously “ did marry, and to wife did take, one Mary…

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1854-11-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently November 1920

6 state decisions

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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¶1The opinion of the court was delivered by

Redeield, Ch. J.

¶2It seems to be regarded as a uniform rule of pleading, applicable to indictments, that every traversable fact must be directly alleged, with time and place. The first marriage, in prosecutions for bigamy, is always traversable, and must be established, by positive proof of the very fact of marriage, if such proof is attainable. It is not claimed, that such fact is here so alleged, the time and place being both blank. This merely is formal, and of the least possible importance, but unless all form is to be disregarded, (which we could not do without a statute to that effect, after having so long regarded it as essential,) then this indictment is fatally defective.

¶3Judgment reversed, and judgment that the indictment is insufficient.