Hobbs v. Hill

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Hobbs v. Hill

32 N.E. 862, 157 Mass. 556, 1893 Mass. LEXIS 366

CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

DecidedJanuary 4, 1893

StatusPublished

Cited by6 cases

This text of 32 N.E. 862 (Hobbs v. Hill) 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

Hobbs v. Hill, 32 N.E. 862, 157 Mass. 556, 1893 Mass. LEXIS 366 (Mass. 1893).

Pincite

Opinion

Allen, J.

The word “ complaint,” as used in the statutes of this Commonwealth in reference to criminal offences, sometimes means the formal written charge of crime to which the accused person is to answer, and sometimes it means the oral charge which may be made to a proper magistrate or court, and which is to be reduced to writing by the magistrate or court. It is used in the latter sense in Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 25. The officer may make the arrest without a warrant, and, after the person arrested is so far recovered from his intoxication as to render it proper to carry him before a court or trial justice, the officer is to make a complaint against him for the crime of drunkenness. By Pub. Sts. c. 212, § 15, “ Upon complaint made to any such magistrate that a criminal offence has been committed, he shall examine on oath the complainant and any witnesses produced by him, shall reduce the complaint to writing,” etc. A similar use of the word “ complaint,” as signifying merely an oral charge, which is to be reduced to writing by the magistrate or court, is found in [558]*558Pub. Sts. c. 211, § 2, and also in c. 89, § 18. It was not necessary for the defendant to make his complaint in writing, and the plaintiff’s request for instructions was properly refused. Conant v. Burnham, 133 Mass. 503. Smith v. Hayden, 6 Cush. 111.

Exceptions overruled.

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Allen, J.

The word “ complaint,” as used in the statutes of this Commonwealth in reference to criminal offences, sometimes means the formal written charge of crime to which the accused person is to answer, and sometimes it means the oral charge which may be made to a proper magistrate or court, and which is to be reduced to writing by the magistrate or court. It is used in the latter sense in Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 25. The officer may make the arrest without a warrant, and, after the person arrested is so far recovered from his intoxication as to render it proper to carry him before a court or trial justice, the officer is to make a complaint against him for the crime of drunkenness. By Pub. Sts. c. 212, § 15, “ Upon complaint made to any such magistrate that a criminal offence has been committed, he shall examine on oath the complainant and any witnesses produced by him, shall reduce the complaint to writing,” etc. A similar use of the word “ complaint,” as signifying merely an oral charge, which is to be reduced to writing by the magistrate or court, is found in [558]*558Pub. Sts. c. 211, § 2, and also in c. 89, § 18. It was not necessary for the defendant to make his complaint in writing, and the plaintiff’s request for instructions was properly refused. Conant v. Burnham, 133 Mass. 503. Smith v. Hayden, 6 Cush. 111.

Exceptions overruled.

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Bluebook (online)

32 N.E. 862, 157 Mass. 556, 1893 Mass. LEXIS 366, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hobbs-v-hill-mass-1893.

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