Commonwealth v. Lavery

Citations

• 247 Pa. 139
• 93 A. 276
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 796

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Pandering—Act of June 7, 1911, P. L. 698— “Prostitution” — Statutes—Construction — Evidence — Insufficient evidence.</p> <p>1. In construing a statute creating a new criminal offense and naming a heavy penalty by way of punishment, a strict construction should be adopted. Words used in a statute, if of common use, are to be given their natural, plain, obvious and ordinary signification.</p> <p>2. Prostitution, within the meaning of the Act of June 7, 1911, P. L. 698, which provides that anyone who shall procure or entice a female person to become an inmate of a house of prostitution, or to enter, for the purpose of prostitution, any place within the Commonwealth where prostitution is practiced, encouraged or allowed, shall be guilty of pandering, is not mere fornication or adultery, confined to any one man, but indiscriminate, illicit intercourse with any man seeking it.</p> <p>3. On the trial of an indictment for pandering, it appeared that defendants had induced two females to enter a house of ill fame in their company, but there was nothing in the evidence to show that they had done so for any purpose other than fornication with the defendants themselves. The jury found a verdict of guilty and sentence was subsequently imposed. Held, the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the verdict and the judgment of the lower court was reversed.</p>