¶1The complaint alleges in proper form that the defendant was a common drunkard on the 1st of January 1868. Commonwealth v. Boon, 2 Gray, 74. But it does not allege in proper form that he was a common drunkard at any other time; the words “having been at divers days and times since said first day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred ánd sixty-eight drunk and intoxicated by the voluntary and excessive use of intoxicating liquors,” not being sufficient. Commonwealth v. Gardner, 7 Gray, 494. The evidence should therefore have been confined to acts done on a single day. Commonwealth v. Elwell, 1 Gray, 463. Exceptions sustained.
99 Mass. 499
Commonwealth v. Foley
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided September 15, 1868
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1868-09-15
Complaint, dated May 25,1868, that the defendant “ on the first day of January in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-eight” “ was and is a common drunkard, having been at divers days and times since said first day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight drank and intoxicated by the voluntary and excessive use of intoxicating liquors.” At the trial in the superior court, before Vose, J., on appeal from a trial justice, the judge ruled…
Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently February 1880
2 state decisions
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1868-09-15
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