State v. Verderamo

Citations

• 29 Del. 72
• 6 Boyce 72
• 96 A. 758
• 1915 Del. LEXIS 70

Syllabus

<p>1. Intoxicating Liquors—Criminal Prosecutions—Questions for Jury.</p> <p>On a trial for selling a larger quantity of lager beer than was permitted by defendant’s license, where there was some testimony that the beer delivered to the purchaser was lager beer, whether it was sufficient to establish this fact was for the jury, and not for the court, to determine.</p> <p>2. Intoxicating Liquors—Evidence—Degree of Proof Required.</p> <p>On a trial for selling a larger quantity of lager beer than was permitted by defendant’s license, whether the liquor sold was lager beer was a material fact to be proved to the satisfaction of the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, as every other material fact must be proved.</p> <p>3. Intoxicating Liquors—Evidence—Circumstantial Evidence.</p> <p>On a trial for unlawfully selling lager beer, the question whether the liquor sold was lager beer might, like any other material fact, be proved by either direct or circumstantial evidence.</p> <p>4. Intoxicating Liquors—Criminal Offenses—Punishment—Statutory Provisions.</p> <p>Act April 10, 1873, (14 Del. Laws, c. 418) entitled “An act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors,” provided in section 19 that the sale of such liquors otherwise than as therein provided should be a misdemeanor, and that any person convicted thereof, when no other specific penalty was therein provided, should pay a fine. Act April 5, 1881 (16 Del. Laws, c. 384), entitled “An act for the suppression of intemperance,” provides in section 12 that every violation 'of any provision thereof, or of any other act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors, shall be a misdemeanor, and that, where no other specific penalty is therein provided, the offender shall pay a fine, and shall also be imprisoned for not less than one and not more than six months, and, if a licensee, shall also forfeit his license. Section 19 of the earlier act was not carried into the Revised Code of 1915. Held, that the act of 1881 provides for every