Commonwealth v. Neal

Citations

• 78 Pa. Super. 216
• 1922 Pa. Super. LEXIS 88

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Practicing medicine and surgery without license ■ — Indictment—Sufficiency—Negative averments not necessary.</p> <p>In an indictment, under the Act of June 3, 1911, P. L. 639, charging the defendant with practicing medicine and surgery without license, it is not necessary to aver that the defendant was not within the exceptions established by the statute. If the defendant is within the exception, it is for him to show it at the trial.</p> <p>When a statute defining an offense contains an exception, in the enacting clause, which is so incorporated with the language defining the ofEense, that the ingredients of the offense cannot be accurately and clearly described, if the exception is omitted, the rules of good pleading require that an indictment, founded upon the statute, must allege enough to show that the accused is not within the exception. But if the language of the clause, defining the offense, is so entirely separable from the exception, that the ingredients constituting the offense may he accurately and clearly defined without reference to the exception, the pleader may safely omit any such reference.</p>