Cowley v. People

28 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 415, 8 Abb. N. Cas. 1
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJune 15, 1880
StatusPublished

This text of 28 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 415 (Cowley v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cowley v. People, 28 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 415, 8 Abb. N. Cas. 1 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1880).

Opinion

Brady, J.:

The plaintiff in error was indicted in the Court of General Sessions for a violation of section 4 of chapter 122 of the Laws of 1816, entitled “An Act to prevent and punish wrongs to children.” The language of the section is as follows:

“ Whoever, having the care or custody of any child, shall willfully cause or permit the life of such child to be endangered, or the health of such child to be injured, or who shall willfully cause or permit such child to be placed in such a situation that its life may [417]*417be endangered, .or its health shall be likely to be injured, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

The indictment contained five counts, but the first and second counts only were resorted to, and these contained the necessary charges to bring the accusation within the section referred to, and are as follows:

First count. That Edward Cowley, late of the Nineteenth "Ward of the city of New York, in the county of New York aforesaid, being an evilly-minded and cruelly-disposed person, and well knowing and intending the premises hereinafter set forth, unlawfully, willfully and wickedly, on the twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, at the ward, city and county aforesaid, did neglect to provide a certain child, then and there known by .the name of Louis Kulkusky, otherwise called Louis Victor, and of which child he then and there had the care and custody, and which said child was then and there in his custody, and was an infant of tender age, to wit, of the age of five years, with, and to give and administer unto .the said child, proper, wholesome and sufficient food, meat; drink, warmth, clothing, bed-covering and means of cleanliness, and did therein and thereby willfully cause and permit the health of said child to be injured, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the people of the State of New York and their dignity.

“ Second count. And the jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid do further present: That afterwards, to wit, on the day and'in the year aforesaid, at the ward, city and county aforesaid, the said Edward Cowley- unlawfully, willfully and wickedly, a certain child then and there known by the name of Louis Kulkuski, otherwise called Louis Victor, and of which child he then and there had the care and custody, and which said child was then and there in his custody, and was an infant of tender age, to wit, of the age of five years, and which said child theretofore had been and then was diseased; sick and ailing in its body and limbs, and then and there required proper medicine and medical attendance, did willfully neglect to provide with, and to give and administer unto said child due, proper and sufficient medicine and medical attendance and- cai;é, -when [418]*418so as aforesaid diseased, sick and ailing, and did therein and thereby willfully cause and permit the health of said child, to wit, the infant aforesaid, to be injured, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace of the people of the State of New York and'their dignity.”

Upon the trial numerous exceptions were taken, both to the admission and exclusion of evidence and to the rulings of the recorder who presided, upon motions made and requests to charge. The prominent objections to the indictment, as they are understood, are that under the statute it was necessary to charge the commission of an affirmative act by which the offense was demonstrated, and that it charged the commission of the offense on a particular day, when, in point of fact, if committed, it was the result of a series of acts continuing, and together resulting in the offense. The first of these objections is utterly untenable, upon any fair construction of the statute, or the object which it was designed to accomplish. Its language, as we have already seen, is that whoever having the care or custody of any child shall willfully cause or permit the life of such child to be endangered or the health of such child to be injured, or who shall willfully cause or permit such child to be placed in such a situation that its life may he endangered or its health be likely to be injured shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. The exposure may necessarily result from a continuing cause, day after day, the aggregate results of which create the danger contemplated, or the health to be injured or likely to be injured.

The allegations in the indictment were, as wo have seen, that the plaintiff in error neglected “ to provide a certain child, then and there known by the name of Louis Kulkusky, otherwise called Louis Yictor, and of which child he then and there had the care and custody, and which said child was then and there in his custody, and was an infant of tender age, to wit, of the age of five years, and to give and administer unto the said child proper, wholesome and sufficient food, meat, drink, warmth, clothing, bed covering and means of cleanliness, and did therein and thereby willfully cause and permit the health of said child to be injured.” And in the second count -with “ willful neglect to provide with, and to give and administer unto said child due, proper and sufficient medicine and [419]*419medical attendance and care, when so, as aforesaid, diseased, sick and ailing, and did therein and thereby willfully cause and permit the health of said child, to wit, the-infant aforesaid, to be injured.” These allegations were distinct as to the elements of the offense, namely, a willful omission to give the boy proper and wholesome food, and a wailful neglect to provide and give to him, when sick, proper medicine and medical attendance. These willful omissions were of acts which the plaintiff in error was obliged, by his custody of the child, to perform, from the trust reposed in him, and which he undertook to discharge, and were within the meaning of the statute, and the discharge of wdiich it was designed to enforce, and therefore to secure. The charge rested upon affirmations of negative acts on the part of the plaintiff in error willfully omitted, for which he was called upon to answer. The plaintiff in error was not put upon trial for the omission to perform them for any one day; but for a series of omissions, extending over a period of time, wdiich resulted in endangering the health of the boy named. Under such circumstances it was proper to charge in the indictment that the offense was committed upon a particular day after the consequences of the neglect were developed. Where the offense charged is one wdiich is accomplished by several acts at separate times, they may be stated to have been done at the same time. (Bishop’s Crim. Pro., § 397, note I; Rex v. Moore, 2 Leach, 575.) The evidence given, upon the trial showed, as already suggested, that the injury to the health of the boy, Louis Yictor, was the result of several acts at separate times which the plaintiff in error was called upon to perform, but omitted to accomplish. If it were necessary to allege in the indictment the omission on each particular day, it would in effect present a recapitulation' of the evidence by which the offense was to be established upon the trial (which is not demanded by any precedent), and would lead to great prolixity and confusion. It is the result of these several acts which the statute is designed to punish, and it is the result, therefore, wdiich establishes the offense. For these reasons it is thought that the indictment is not assailable, and that the objections to it cannot be sustained.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 415, 8 Abb. N. Cas. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cowley-v-people-nysupct-1880.