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70 Mass. 36

Commonwealth v. Randall

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided September 15, 1855

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1855-09-15

<p>fn a omplaint which alleges that the defendant did make an assault on Lucy Ann Keaca, and her did strike, with a ferule, “ divers grievous and dangerous blows upon the head, back, shoulders and other parts of the body [of her the said Lucy Ann Leach, whereby the said Lucy Ann Leach was cruelly beaten and wounded, and other wrongs to the said Lucy Ann Leach then and there did and committed] to her great damage," the words above inclosed in brackets may be rejected as surplusage, leaving a sufficient charge of an assault on Lucy Ann Keach.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment of a schoolmaster for an assault on a pupil, the judge refused to instruct the jury that the defendant was criminally liable for punishing a pupil, only when he acted malo anima, from vindictive feeling, passion or ill will, or inflicted more punishment than was necessary to secure obedience; and not for error of opinion or judgment, provided he was governed by an honest purpose to promote the discipline and highest welfare of the school and the best interests of the child; and instructed them that, in inflicting corporal punishment, a teacher must exercise reasonable judgment and discretion, and be governed, as to the mode and severity of the punishment, by the nature of the offence, the age, size, and apparent powers of endurance of the pupil, and left it to the jury to decide whether the punishment was excessive. Held, that the defendant had no ground of exception.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1855-09-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently May 2016

1 federal appellate · 4 state decisions

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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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Bigelow, J.

¶1The mistake in the complaint was clearly a clerical one; and, after striking out the defective portion of the allegation, it charges in apt and sufficient words an assault and battery on Lucy Ann Keaeh. Courts of justice are disposed to treat as surplusage all erroneous and improper averments in complaints and indictments, when the residue of the allegations sets out the offence charged in technical language and with substantial certainty and precision. The authorities are numerous and decisive on this point. Archb. Crim. Pl. (5th ed.) 41, 107. The King v. Morris, 1 Leach, (3d ed.) 127. Commonwealth v. Hunt, 4 Pick. 252. Commonwealth v. Pray, 13 Pick. 359. Commonwealth v. Simpson, 9 Met. 138. [State v. Bailey, 11 Foster, 521.]

¶2The instructions given tended to justify the defendant in punishing his pupils with greater severity than is consistent with a just and humane exercise of the authority conferred on him by law. To say the least, they were sufficiently favorable to the defendant. If, in inflicting punishment upon his pupil, he went beyond the limit of moderate castigation, and, either in the mode or degree of correction, was guilty of any unreasonable and disproportionate violence or force, he was clearly liable for such excess in a criminal prosecution. 1 Hawk. c. 60, § 23. 1 Russell on Crimes, (7th Amer. ed.) 755. Bac. Ab. Assault & Battery, C. It is undoubtedly true that, in order to support an indictment for an assault and battery, it is necessary to show that it was committed ex intentione, and that if the criminal intent is wanting, the offence is not made out. But this intent is always inferred from the unlawful act. The unreasonable *39and excessive use of force on the person of another being proved, the wrongful intent is a necessary and legitimate conclusion in all cases where the act was designedly committed. It then becomes an assault and battery, because purposely inflicted without justification or excuse. Whether, under all the facts, the punishment of the pupil is excessive, must be left to the jury.

¶3 Exceptions overruled.

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