Commonwealth v. Menjou

Citations

• 174 Pa. 25
• 34 A. 301
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 840

Syllabus

<p>Justice of the peace — Appeal—Judgment for penalty — Constitution, article 5, sec. 14.</p> <p>Under art. 5, sec. 14, of the constitution of 1874, an appeal from a judgment for a penalty before a justice of the peace by default of defendant’s appearance will not be allowed by the court into which the appeal must regularly come or a judge thereof, unless defendant shows some reason for not having availed himself of the full and fair opportunity which was accorded him to be heard before a justice of the peace.</p> <p>Defendant was summoned before a justice of the peace for unlawfully selling oleomargarine. The summons was regularly served, but defendant declined to appear and judgment was entered against him. Subsequently he petitioned the court of common pleas to allow an appeal. In his petition he did not account for his nonappearance before the justice, but stated three reasons for asking that an appeal be allowed: (1) That he was innocent of the offense charged; (2) that the magistrate did not observe the rules of evidence in the examination of witnesses; (3) that the representative of the dairy and food commissioner was unable to show-proper authority for acting as such agent. Held, that as the actual legal effect of the petition was simply to deny liability to the penalty, and as defendant had had an opportunity to make his defense, the Supreme Court would not reverse the lower court for refusing to allow the appeal.</p>