Allen v. Commonwealth

Citations

• 77 Pa. Super. 244
• 1921 Pa. Super. LEXIS 245

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Cruelty to animals — Act of March 29, 1869, P. L. 22 — Constitutionality—Misdemeanor—Indictable offense.</p> <p>The Act of March 29,1869, P. L. 22, defining the crime of cruelty to animals and providing the method of procedure thereunder is constitutional.</p> <p>The offense of cruelty to animals, as defined in the.act, being a new offense, was not indictable at common law, and it was entirely competent for the legislature, in creating the offense, to determine the mode in which the guilt or innocence of one charged should be determined. The use of the word “misdemeanor,” in the act, does not necessarily mean that the crime defined was an offense indictable at common law. The law of Pennsylvania does not attach to the legislative use of the word misdemeanor such an exclusive meaning that it may not include, if the legislature so wills, petty offenses which may properly be tried before a subordinate magistrate.</p> <p>Keller, J., dissents.</p>