Commonwealth v. Hessman

8 Pa. D. & C.2d 625, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414
CourtDauphin County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedApril 30, 1956
Docketno. 228
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Pa. D. & C.2d 625 (Commonwealth v. Hessman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Dauphin County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Hessman, 8 Pa. D. & C.2d 625, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1956).

Opinion

Neely, J.,

This matter is before us on motion to quash an information charging defendant with violating section 1002(6) (6) of The Vehicle Code of May 1,1929, P. L. 905, as amended, 75 PS §501, speeding. Information was lodged before G. Robert Huffman, Justice of the Peace of Middle Paxton Township, in this county, on May 2, 1954. Notice of hearing was forwarded by registered mail to defendant at his address, in Lewistown, Mifflin County, and the receipt therefor was signed by Mrs. A. L. Magaro and returned to the justice of the peace. When defendant did not voluntarily appear, a warrant was issued, whereupon defendant posted bail with Oscar F. Brush, a justice of the peace of the Borough [626]*626of Lewistown, Mifflin County, signed the bail “G. Dan Hessmann” and waived a hearing for appearance in this court. When the matter came on for hearing before us, because his name was spelled in the notice of the justice of the peace above mentioned and in the information as “H-E-S-S-M-A-N” instead of “H-E-S-S-M-A-N-N”, defendant moved in this court to quash the information.

It is our considered judgment that “H-E-S-SM-A-N” is idem sonans with “H-E-S-S-M-A-N-N”. “The rule of ‘idem sonans’ is that absolute accuracy in spelling names is not required in a legal document or proceedings either civil or criminal; that, if the name, as spelled . . . , though different from the correct spelling thereof, conveys to the ear, when pronounced according to the commonly accepted methods, a sound practically identical with the correct name as commonly pronounced, the name thus given is a sufficient designation of the individual referred to, and no advantage can be taken of the clerical error”: Vol. 20, Words and Phrases, page 8. A defendant can certainly complain of a variance in names where he has been misled to his prejudice. Here defendant was not misled. He posted bail in Lewistown and waived a hearing for his appearance in this court and signed the bail piece in his correct name “H-E-S-S-M-A-N-N”.

“In indictments and pleadings, when a name which it is material to state is wrongly spelled, yet if it be idem sonans with that proved, it is sufficient. The following have been held to be idem sonans, Segrave for Seagrave; . . . Whyneard for Winyard; . . . Benedetto for Beneditto; . . . Keen for Keene; . . . Deadema for Diadema; . . . Hutson for Hudson; . . . Coonrad for Conrad; . . . Gibney for Giboney; . . . Allen for Allain; . . . Emerly for Emley; . . . Johnston for Johnson; . . . Busse for Bosse; . . . Cham[627]*627bles for Chambless; . . . The rule seems to be that if names may be sounded alike without doing violence to the power of letters found in the various orthography, the variance is immaterial; . . Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, vol. 1, p. 1484. See also Sadler on Criminal Procedure in Pennsylvania, vol. 1, §235, p. 285; Paul v. Johnson, 9 Phila. 32 (1871).

While there is a paucity of Pennsylvania decisions on this question, the authorities supporting the above rule are extensive in other jurisdictions in criminal as well as civil cases: Miller v. State, 249 P. 2d 137 (Okla. Crim. Ct. of Appeals, 1952); Johnson v. State, 43 So. 2d 424, 430, 431 (Ala. Ct. of Appeals, 1949); State v. Utley, 223 N. C. 39, 25 S. E. 2d 195 (1943); Webb v. Ferkins, 227 Iowa 1157, 290 N. W. 112 (1940); Batty v. Arizona State Dental Board, 57 Ariz. 239, 112 P. 2d 870, 876; Reese v. State, 151 S. W. 2d 828, 834 (Texas Crim. App.,1941).

We are, therefore, constrained to hold that “H-E-S-S-M-A-N” is idem sonans with “H-E-S-SM-A-N-N”, and that defendant having posted bail for appearance in court, was not misled to his prejudice in any way, but on the contrary was well aware that he was the man charged with the offense. We must, therefore, refuse to quash the information because defendant was named therein as “H-E-S-S-M-A-N” instead of “H-E-S-S-M-A-N-N”.

The other reason assigned by defendant in his motion to quash is that the information fails to conclude with the language “against the peace and dignity of the same”. Defendant contends that this violates article Y, sec. 23, of the Constitution of 1874, which provides that: “. . . All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and conclude ‘against the peace and dignity of the same’.” An examination of [628]*628the authorities would seem to indicate that this section of the Constitution refers to indictments, and there are a number of cases where the sufficiency of indictments was considered where they did not contain the constitutional conclusion: Commonwealth ex rel. v. Smith, 152 Pa. Superior Ct. 1 (1943); Commonwealth v. Gallagher, 165 Pa. Superior Ct. 553 (1949); Commonwealth v. Hopkins, 165 Pa. Superior Ct. 561 (1949). In the Hopkins case, Judge Arnold observed, at page 568:

. . It may well be doubted that this (Article V, sec. 23) is a mandatory requirement of the Constitution, — rather one would think that it is directory.” (Parentheses supplied.)

Whatever might be the rule as to indictments, we can find no adjudicated cases holding that this conclusion is required in an information. Defendant has cited in his brief the authority of two writers on this subject, to wit, Kessler’s “Penalties and Procedure for Summary Convictions in Pennsylvania”, 1953, p. 13, and Pentz’ “Manual for Police and Constables in Pa.”, Bisel 1952, p. 78.

The editor of Purdon’s Statutes apparently considered that this constitutional provision (article V, sec. 23) referred to “Style of process; indictments”. We have examined the Constitution as reported at 1874, P. L. 13, and find in the margin this section is entitled “Style of process and indictment”.

The rule has always been that accuracy in' an information is not required to the same extent as in an indictment and that so long as a charge is laid in general language, so as to inform defendant of the nature of the offense with which he is charged, it has been deemed sufficient for the purpose of an information.

The rule is stated in Commonwealth v. Ginsberg, 143 Pa. Superior Ct. 317, 324 (1941) as follows:

[629]*629“It is not necessary that an information should charge the crime with the same detail and technical accuracy required in an indictment; if the essential elements of the offense be set forth in terms of common parlance, and if the defendant is given fair notice of the nature of the unlawful act which he is alleged to have committed, the information is sufficient: Com. v. Carson et al., 166 Pa. 179, . . .; Com. v. Robertson, 47 Pa. Superior Ct. 472; Com. v. Grego, 116 Pa. Superior Ct. 295, . . .” See also Commonwealth v. Spallone, 154 Pa. Superior Ct. 282, 285, 286 (1944); Commonwealth v. Gross, 161 Pa. Superior Ct. 613, 621 (1948).

Defendant is asking us to reverse this general rule as to the sufficiency of an information, and to say that it is not sufficient merely to inform defendant of the nature of the offense in language of common parlance, which the information in this case clearly and sufficiently does. We do not believe that the omission of the constitutional conclusion from the information is fatal to this proceeding, particularly since defendant made no challenge to the information before the justice, but on the contrary waived the hearing for his appearance in this court.

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Bluebook (online)
8 Pa. D. & C.2d 625, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-hessman-paqtrsessdauphi-1956.