Commonwealth v. Switzer

Citations

• 134 Pa. 383
• 19 A. 681
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 715

Syllabus

<p>1. On the trial of an indictment for obstructing a street in a borough, incorporated in 1870, it was error to admit an official plan, adopted in 1887, but containing a recital that it was a draft of the borough laid out in 1818, as evidence that the locus in quo was a public highway, in the absence of proof thereof by the surveyor who made it, or accounting for the absence of the original.</p> <p>2. In such trial, there being evidence tending to show that the premises containing the buildings alleged to obstruct the highway had for many years been occupied by tenants, itwas error to instruct the juryin terms which might lead them to believe that the landlord was criminally responsible for the separate act of the tenants, if he knew of it and did not dissent. ^</p> <p>3. It was error, also, in such trial, to suggest to the jury the probable extent of the punishment, in case a verdict of guilty were rendered; and the error was not cured by immediately subsequent and explicit directions that the jury, however, had nothing to do with the result of the trial, but must decide the cause according to the evidence.</p>