Harrison v. Commonwealth

Citations

• 123 Pa. 508
• 23 W.N.C. 75
• 16 A. 611
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 676

Syllabus

<p>1. Where a defendant in a criminal proceeding has been convicted upon an indictment which is insufficient to support judgment, the court, instead of arresting judgment, may order a new trial upon a bill sufficiently charging the offence, to be laid before the grand jury by the district attorney.</p> <p>2. A bill so sent to the grand jury by the district attorney, upon his official responsibility and by leave of court, may not be quashed because the offence charged therein does not conform to that set forth in the original information, or for other matters not appearing upon the face of the bill.</p> <p>3. The act of April 11,1866, P. L. 604, providing that any person in Allegheny and Schuylkill counties receiving or buying from minors etc., any scrap iron, brass, lead, copper, or other metal, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, etc., seems to be within the police powers of the state, and, on the trial of a cause under its provisions, the jury have nothing to do with the propriety of the law or its constitutionality.</p>