Commonwealth v. New Bethlehem Borough

Citations

• 15 Pa. Super. 158
• 1900 Pa. Super. LEXIS 319

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Essentials of constable's return — Indictment of municipality for nuisance.</p> <p>A constable’s return need not be drawn with all the formal nicety of an indictment. The return in question taken as a whole and given a reasonable intendment, charged a public nuisance and by implication a neglect of duty on the part of a municipality in permitting the public highway under its control to be and continue totally obstructed against public travel.</p> <p>Nuisance — Neglect to repair road.</p> <p>Neglect to keep in repair the public roads in any municipal district is a violation of public duty, and the person or municipal corporation chai'ged with the duty is punishable by indictment at eommom law; a corporation may be indicted for acts done to the injury and annoyance of the public.</p> <p>Sufficiency of indictment — Motion to quash — Bill of particulars.</p> <p>An indictment is sufficient if it shows that an offense has been committed and describes the same so plainly that its nature easily may be understood by the jury. If it comes up to this standard but does not furnish sufficient information to enable the defendant to prepare his defense, the remedy is not by motion to quash but by motion for bill of particulars.</p> <p>Constable's return — Indorsement of prosecutor — Quashing indictment.</p> <p>Where an indictment is based on a constable’s return made in the discharge of his official duty, it is not required that the name of a prosecutor be indorsed thereon.</p> <p>The court will not quash an indictment based on a sworn return of a constable in the discharge of his official duty where there is no irregularity apparent on the face of the record and none is shown by extrinsic evidence.</p>