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64 N.H. 491

14 A 727

State v. Small

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided December 5, 1887

Supreme Court of New Hampshire · decided 1887-12-05

Indictment, under Gen. Laws, c. 109, s. 13, for keeping spirituous liquor for sale, with an averment that the defendant “has previously been convicted of a violation of section 13 of chapter 109 of the General Laws in relation to the keeping for sale of spirituous liquor.” The question was reserved whether the indictment sufficiently describes a “ subsequent offence.” Other questions raised in this case were decided in State v. Fagan and State v. Adams, ante, 431, 440.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1887-12-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently July 1991

11 state decisions

30188718901900191019201930194019501960197019801990decided

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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Doe, C. J.

¶1 The provision of Gen. Laws, c. 109, s. 23, that the record of a former conviction need not be “ set forth particularly ” in an indictment for a second offence, and that “ it shall be sufficient to allege briefly that such person has been convicted of a violation of any provision of this chapter, as the case may be,” implies that there must be a statement of the record if it is relied on with a view of charging the defendant with the higher penalty. Tuttle v. Com., 2 Gray 505, 507. The judgment need not be set forth literally; but he is entitled to a description that will enable *492 him to find the record, to apply for a correction or reversal, and to make preparation for a trial of the question whether he is the convict. A construction less favorable to him would not be consistent with his constitutional right. The. averment giving him no information of the time, court, or county in which the judgment was rendered, is insufficient. The indictment is good, but not for a subsequent offence.

¶2 Case discharged.

¶3 All concurred.

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