Commonwealth v. Gouger

Citations

• 21 Pa. Super. 217
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 342

Syllabus

<p>Appeals — Interlocutory order — Order to enter bail — Criminal law.</p> <p>An order quashing an indictment coupled with a direction directing defendant to give bail for his appearance at the next term is not an interlocutory order from which no appeal lies. The order is final, although it does not have the effect of an acquittal of the defendant.</p> <p>Criminal law — Election law — Fraud at primary elections — Act of June 8, 1881, P. L. 70.</p> <p>Under the Act of June 8, 1881, P. L. 70, entitled “ An act to prevent bribery and fraud at nominating elections, nominating conventions, returning boards, county or executive committees, and at election of delegates to nominating conventions in the several counties in this commonwealth,” an indictment cannot be maintained which alleges that at a nominating or delegate election commonly known as a primary election, the defendant offered bribes to different electors to vote for him for the office of county chairman. The purpose of the act was to prevent bribery in the nomination of candidates to be voted for at a subsequent election, and does not apply to an election of officers of a party organization by direct vote of the qualified electors of the party.</p> <p>Statutes — Construction of statutes — Province of the court.</p> <p>In the construction of statutes it may sometimes become necessary to transpose words or even to supply or strike out a word which the context shows was omitted or inserted by mistake; but where an enactment is plain and sensible, and, according to any meaning, broad or narrow, proper or technical, which may be ascribed to the words, does not apply to the case' in hand, it is not permissible for the courts to add or omit words in order to make it so apply even though it may be clear to them that the case is as fully within the mischief to be remedied as the cases provided. This would be not to construe, but to amend the law, which is within the exclusive province of the legislature.</p> <p>Where