cumulative sentence
Defined in 3 dictionaries — Case Law, Ballentine's (1916), Bouvier (1914)
Definitions from Case Law
United States Supreme Court
the probationary power ceases with respect to all of the sentences composing a single cumulative sentence immediately upon imprisonment for any part of the cumulative sentence.
Defined by the Supreme Court in - Affronti v. United States, 350 U.S. 79 (1955).
Ballentine's Law Dictionary
James A. Ballentine · 1916
Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia
John Bouvier; revised by Francis Rawle · 1914
A second or additional judgment given against one who has been convicted, the execution or effect of which is to commence after the first has expired. Clifford v. Dryden, 31 Wash. 545, 72 Pac. 96. Thus, where a man is sentenced to an imprisonment for six months on conviction of larceny, and afterwards he is convicted of burglary, he may be sentenced to imprisonment for the latter, to commence after the expiration of the first imprisonment: this is called a cumulative judgment. And if the former sentence is shortened by a pardon, or by reversal on writ of error, it expires, and the subsequent sentence takes effect, as if the former had expired by lapse of time; Kite v. Com., 11 Mete. (Mass.) 581. Where an indictment for misdemeanor contained four counts, the third of which was held on error to be bad in substance, and the defendant, being convicted on the whole indictment, was sentenced to four successive terms of imprisonment of equal duration, held that the sentence on the fourth count was not invalidated by the insufficiency of the third count, and that the imprisonment on it was to be computed from the end of the imprisonment on the second count; 15 Q. B. 594. Upon an indictment for misdemeanor containing two counts for distinct offences, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for consecutive terms of punishment, although the aggregate of the punishments may exceed the punishment allowed by law for one offence, and this rule is in many states prescribed by statute; 1 Bish. New Crim. Proc. § 50 Kan. 299, 32 Pac. 36; In re Walsh, 37 Neb. 454, 55 N. W. 1075; In re Wilson, 11 Utah, 114, 39 Pac. 498. But it may in some cases be the means of perpetrating great injustice. See O'Neil v. Vermont, 114 U. S. 323, 12 Sup. Ct. 693, 36 L. Ed. 450, vhere a justice of the peace imposed a fine of $0038, and on failure to pay it, a sentence of nearly 00 years' imprisonment, for selling intoxcating liquors. The Supreme Court of the United Status refused to interfere. See 31 Am. L. Reg. 619. In the absence of a statute, it Is generally held that the court has power to impose cumulative sentences upon conviction under separate indictments for separate offences, the imprisonment under one to commence at the termination of that under the other; Howard v. U. S., 75 Fed. 986, 21 C. C. A. 586, 34 L. R. A. 509, 43 U. S. App. 678; Simmons v. Coal Co., 117 Ga. 315, 43 S. E. 780, 61 L. R. A. 739; In re Breton, 93 Me. 39, 44 Atl. 1:5, 74 Am. St. Rep. 335; Rigor v. State, 101 Md. 4C5, 61 Atl. 631, 4 Ann. Cas. 719; State v. Hamby, 126 N. C. 1066, 35 S. E. 614; Cuntra, Ex parte Meyers, 44 Mo. 279; Lockwood V. Dills, 74 Ind. 57. A statute giving this authority Is ex post facto; Baker v. State, 11 Tex. App. 262; where a court imposes sentences exceeding, in the aggregate, its jurisdiction, only the excess is void; Harris v. Lang, 27 App. D. C. 84, 7 L. R. A. (N. S.) 124, 7 Ann. Cas. 141. If the second conviction of three is erroneous, the third at once follows the first; U. S. v. Carpenter. 151 Fed. 214, 81 C. C. A. 194, 9 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1043, 10 Ann. Cas. 509. Upon an indictment for perjury charging offences committed in different suits, the defendant, upon conviction, may be sentenced to distinct punishments, although the suits were instituted with a common object; 5 Q. B. Div. 490. Where, upon trial of an Indictment — containing several counts — charging separate and distinct misdemeanors, identical In character, a general verdict of guilty is rendered, or a verdict of guilty upon two or more specified counts, the court has no power to impose a sentence or cumulative sentences exceeding in the aggregate what is prescribed by statute as the maximum punishment for one offence of the character charged; People v. Liscomb, 60 N. Y. 559, 19 Am. Rep. 211; but this case is said to stand alone. See 1 Bish. New Cr. Proc. § 1327 (2); 6 App. Cas. 241.