Commonwealth v. Williams

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Commonwealth v. Williams

69 Mass. 461

CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

DecidedMarch 15, 1855

StatusPublished

This text of 69 Mass. 461 (Commonwealth v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Commonwealth v. Williams, 69 Mass. 461 (Mass. 1855).

Pincite

Opinion

By the Court.

This, being a penal statute, is to be construed strictly. Although, in the more natural grammatical construction, the words “ such property,” in the clause relating to “ any other person who shall be intrusted with such property,” refer only to the words “ money, goods or other property, which may be the subject of larceny,” yet the words, at the end of the section, “ before delivery of such money; goods or property, at the place at which, or to the person to whom they were to be delivered ” limit the words “ such property” still further, and, taken in connection with the words “ carrier or other person,” at the beginning of the section, confine its application to the embezzlement of property received by the defendant to be carried and delivered to another person. Exceptions sustained.

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By the Court.

This, being a penal statute, is to be construed strictly. Although, in the more natural grammatical construction, the words “ such property,” in the clause relating to “ any other person who shall be intrusted with such property,” refer only to the words “ money, goods or other property, which may be the subject of larceny,” yet the words, at the end of the section, “ before delivery of such money; goods or property, at the place at which, or to the person to whom they were to be delivered ” limit the words “ such property” still further, and, taken in connection with the words “ carrier or other person,” at the beginning of the section, confine its application to the embezzlement of property received by the defendant to be carried and delivered to another person. Exceptions sustained.

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Bluebook (online)

69 Mass. 461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-williams-mass-1855.