Kearney v. State

48 Md. 16, 1877 Md. LEXIS 114
Court of Appeals of Maryland·Decided December 20, 1877·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

Miller, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case is now rightly brought before us by proceedings in the nature of a writ of error after final judgment, and properly presents the question of the validity of the indictment raised by demurrer in the Criminal Court.

The indictment is very brief, and charges that the plaintiff in error, on the 8th of April, 1876, “with force and arms, at the City of Baltimore aforesaid, four pieces [23] of printed paper commonly called 1 United States five-twenty bonds ’ of the issue of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, each of the value of one thousand dollars, current money, of the bonds, goods and chattels of one Ernest Newrath, then lately before, feloniously stolen, taken and carried away, unlawfully did then and there have and receive, he the said Edward Kearney, then and there well knowing the said bonds, goods and chattels to have been feloniously stolen, taken and carried away, contrary to the form of the Act of Assembly in such case made and provided, and against the peace, government and dignity of the State.”

It is clear beyond question that this indictment was drawn to charge an offence under that part of sec. 163, Art. 30, of the Code, which defines and punishes “the crime of receiving any bond, bill obligatory or bill of exchange, promissory note for the the payment of money, bank-note, paper bill of credit, certificate granted by or under the authority of this State or of the United States, or any of them, knowing the same to be stolen.” This and the preceding section 101, of the same Article, relating to the robbery or larceny of these and other written instruments, created new offences unknown to the common law. 2 East’s P. C., 597. Now the defect which we consider fatal in this indictment, is that it does not charge in distinct and positive terms that the “four pieces of printed paper ” were bonds or certificates of indebtedness issued or “ granted by or under the authority of the United States.” That they were so issued can only be made out by inference from the terms “ commonly called United States five-twenty bonds of the issue of the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five,” but that is not sufficient. The want of a direct allegation of any thing material in the description of the substance, nature, or manner of the crime, cannot be supplied by intendment, and hence it has always been held, that it is an essential [24] requisite in every indictment that it should allege all matters material to constitute the particular crime charged, with such positiveness and directness, as not to need the aid of intendment or implication. 2 Hawk. P. C., ch. 25, sec. 60 ; Deckard vs. The State, 38 Md., 201. It is also a well settled rule of criminal pleading that in an indictment for an offence created by statute, it is sufficient to describe the offence in the words of the statute, and where the words of the statute are descriptive of the offence, the indictment should follow (in substance at least,) the language of the statute, and expressly charge the described offence on the defendant, or it will he defective; it is necessary that the defendant should he brought within all the material words of the statute and nothing can he taken by intendment. 1 Whart. Amer. Cr. Law, sec. 364; 1 Bishop’s Cr. Procedure, sec. 360; State vs. Elborn., 27 Md., 488. Authorities in support of these propositions are too numerous to he cited. We content ourselves with a reference simply to the case of Rex vs. Craven, cited in 2 East’s P. C., 601, and reported in 1 Russ. and Ryan, 14. That case was relied on in State vs. Price, 12 G. & J., 264, to support the objection to the indictment there taken. The objection was not sustained, hut in overruling it the Court said, that in Rex vs. Craven “the felony created by the statute, was the stealing of a bank-note, or promissory note for the payment of money. The charge in the indictment was the stealing of ‘a certain note commonly called a bank-note.’ And the Court say ‘that in the first special description of the property stolen, it being stated only to he a note, was not sufficient, the words of the Act being bank-note or promissory note for the payment of money. And that the addition ‘ commonly called a bank-note,’ ‘ did not aid such original wrong description.’ In the case at bar there was no original wrong description which required aid from the words that were added. On the contrary [25] the indictment described with technical accuracy in the very language of the Act of Assembly, the offence committed, and such description was neither aided nor impaired by,the additional words unnecessarily used.” But what was thus said in Craven’s Case is exactly applicable to the indictment now before us. The special description of the things received is, “four pieces of printed paper.” This does not conform to any thing contained in that portion of the statute we have quoted. It is altogether defective in this respect, and is not aided by the addition, “ commonly called United States five-twenty .bonds.” In short the statute creates and punishes with great severity the receiving, knowing them to be stolen, certain instruments importing on tbeir face obligations or promises for the payment of money, and among them it specifies and describes such obligations or certificates “ granted by or under the authority of the United States.” When the purpose is to charge a party with the offence of thus receiving such instruments, the indictment must charge directly and positively, and not by implication or intendment, that they were so granted or issued. That is not done in the present indictment and it is therefore substantially defective.

. This defect being in matter of substance and not of form, and the objection being raised by demurrer, it is plain the case is not affected by any thing contained in section 82 of the same Article of the Code. Nor is it cured by the Act of 1862, ch. 80. That statute dispenses with the necessity of setting out a copy or fac simile of the whole or any part of any printed or written instrument which it becomes necessary to make an averment respecting in an indictment, and allows it to be described by any name or designation by which it may be usually known, pr by its purport. But we are of opinion it was not the design and purpose of this Act to abrogate the well settled rule of pleading in criminal cases which we have already stated.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Kearney v. State, 48 Md. 16, 1877 Md. LEXIS 114 (Md. 1877).

48 Md. 16 (Kearney v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Williams v. State
675 A.2d 1037 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1996)
Butler v. State
605 A.2d 186 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1992)
Hubbard v. State
544 A.2d 346 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1988)
Williams v. State
490 A.2d 1277 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1985)
Hall v. State
468 A.2d 1015 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1984)
Ayre v. State
433 A.2d 1150 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1981)
Brown v. State
400 A.2d 1133 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1979)
State v. Canova
365 A.2d 988 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1976)
McMorris v. State
355 A.2d 438 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1976)
Jackson v. State
270 A.2d 322 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1970)
Boone v. State
237 A.2d 787 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1968)
Felkner v. State
146 A.2d 424 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1958)
Bonneville v. State
111 A.2d 669 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1955)
Imbraguglia v. State
40 A.2d 329 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1944)
Miggins v. State
184 A. 911 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1936)
Wentz v. State
150 A. 278 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1930)
People v. Johnson
156 N.W. 449 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1916)
Gilbert v. State
111 N.W. 377 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1907)
Moline v. State
93 N.W. 228 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1903)
State v. King
51 A. 1102 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1902)