State v. Checkver

Citations

• 29 Del. 30
• 6 Boyce 30
• 96 A. 202
• 1915 Del. LEXIS 63

Syllabus

<p>1. Licenses—Occupations—Junk Shops—Violations of Statute—Evidence. x</p> <p>Under Rev. Code 1915, § 1200, requiring every junk dealer to keep a=book in which every purchase made shall be entered with an account and description of the goods, the price paid, the time of the purchase, and the description of the person selling the goods, no conviction can be had if an entry of the required items, is made in a book whether that book be furnished by the police department or not, so that a book purchased from one to whom it was furnished by the police department was admissible to show whether or not the entry had been made.</p> <p>2. Licenses—Occupations—Junk Shops—Criminal Prosecutions—Defenses.</p> <p>Rev. Code 1915, § 1200, requiring junk dealers to make entries of purchases of junk, must be complied with, so that failure to make an entry, due to the fact that a police officer took the book for use in a trial, telling the junk dealer to make the entries later, was no defense to a prosecution for noncompliance.</p> <p>3. Licenses — Occupations — Junk Shops — Criminal Prosecutions — Burden of Proof.</p> <p>In a prosecution under Rev. Code 1915, § 1200, requiring junk dealers to keep a certain record of all purchases made, it is incumbent upon the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was, at the time of the offense, a junk dealer, that he purchased from a certain individual certain goods, and that he did not make the required entries.</p> <p>4. Licenses—Occupations—Junk Shops—Effect of Partnership.</p> <p>Under Rev. Code 1915, § 1200, requiring certain entries to be made by junk dealers on purchasing goods, a purchase by one of a partnership makes the other partner personally liable for any violation of the law.</p> <p>5. Criminal Law—Quantum of Evidence Required—“Reasonable Doubt.”</p> <p>In a criminal prosecution, the defendant is entitled to acquittal if the jury entertains “reasonable doubt” of his guilt, but that doubt must not be a mere vague, w