Commonwealth v. Edmiston

Citations

• 30 Pa. Super. 54
• 1906 Pa. Super. LEXIS 13

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Indictment—Quashing indictment — Witness—Appeals.</p> <p>The Superior Court has authority to review the action of the quarter sessions iii refusing to quash an indictment; but where the action of the lower court is purely discretionary it will not be set aside unless there be an abuse of discretion both manifest and flagrant.</p> <p>Where the'motion to quash an indictment is based on an allegation of facts outside of the record proper, the revisory jurisdiction of the appellate court is necessarily confined to a determination of the question arising upon the latter, taken in connection with the facts or the evidence duly brought upon the record by bill of exceptions.</p> <p>The Act of March 31, 1860, sec. 10, P. L. 427, giving authority to the foreman and members of the grand jury to administer the oath to a witness whose name is indorsed on the indictment, does not abrogate the common-law practice by which witnesses were sworn in open court and sent before the grand jury.</p> <p>The Superior Court will not reverse an order of the quarter sessions refusing to quash an indictment because the indictment was found upon the testimony of a single witness whose name was not indorsed on the indictment, where it does not appear from the record either affirmatively or by necessary implication not only that the indictment was found as alleged, but also that the witness was not sworn before the court.</p>