Commonwealth v. Lamar

Citations

• 32 Pa. Super. 200
• 1906 Pa. Super. LEXIS 322

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Recognizance—Bail—Affidavit of defense.</p> <p>In an action against a surety on a recognizance, an affidavit of defense is insufficient which avers that the defendant never became surety for the appearance of anybody of the name of the principal in the recognizance, or whose name resembled or was similar to it, where the defendant does not deny that he signed the recognizance, nor that the giving of the recognizance resulted in the release from imprisonment of the very person for whom he intended to go bail.</p> <p>A recognizance in a criminal case is not invalid because the principal fails to sign the recognizance together with the surety.</p> <p>In an action upon a recognizance taken by a justice of the peace to release a prisoner charged with larceny, where it appears that the bail was taken before the beginning of the term at which the prisoner was to appear, and before indictment, the surety cannot allege as a defense that the recognizance is invalid because it had been taken after the transcript of the justice had been returned to the quarter sessions.</p>