Litchfield enquirer., 1867-09-12
Temperance Detectives.

We print on our first page another long letter from the Rev. s. H. Platt We congratulate our clerical friend on his improvement ill legal knowl- edge He has certainly studied very hard, or ta- ken excellent counsel since he wrote us last. None of tho cases he cites however, directlyn point In Commonwealth vs. Willard. the case is that of a purchaser from an unlicensed seller. The decis- ion was undoubtedly correct Where one is found doing business not unlawful in itself, it is to be presumed he has duo hcence. It is not necessary that client should see his Counsels U. S license before he is safe in employing him, nor does the Court require the lawyers who practice at it's Bar, to produce their licenses. While, therefore, the caso itself was correctly decided, wo- cannot i aequiesce in the djcta of CL J. Shaw. He relics on distinction between crimes naalG in SC, (evil in thcmselves,) and n1a}a prohibHG, (evil because prohibited by statuto,) whereas Chancellor Kent says :-' The distinction between statutory offen- ces which are af,ala psolj51o only, mo!a te SC, is exploded, and breach of statute law in el- ther case, is equally unlawful, and equally breach of duty" Kent, Com. 51s. So also it was hold in Rex ys. Brodwick and Reg. Britton, cited in our article of the 22d ult The Chief Justice ar- | riyes at the following conclusions :-
 "It is in cases of this character" G. o., those considered criminal in themselves,) that the prn- clpe has been applied but we know of no case, where an act which, previously to the Statute was lawful or indifferent, IS prohibited under small penalty, and where tho soliciting or inducing an- other to do the act, by which he may incur the penalty, is held to be itself punishable. Such 8 case may arise under peculiar circumstances, iii which the principle of law, which in itself is 8 al of oijnjo lsGt does not apgyto the case of one WtO by ptTchasing spii'itu0uS liquors Of 0n MnH- cense1 person does us tty os Nt dct ecends, induce l hat otterto sell in 0jot0jion ct tte statete." l Yet it was decided few years after, in the Su- | premo Court of Mass, that liquor seller might be held liablo for the act of his agent, 10 Met. 2C2 ) and in Crolnpt and Jor., 22O, it was held that was liable for criminal acts of his agent. a smuggler, which were presumed to have been l dono by his orders
 Mr. Bishop, tine latest and best of our writers on Criminal Law, lays down tho common sense rulo, that tho jaw searches out and punishcs those moro or less remotely connected with the commission of 8 crime, with rigor proportioncd to the impor- tanco of the offence. Now, tho magnitude of 8 criIno can only safely bo estimated by reference 1 to the penalty inflicted Wo find that the pnnish- Ilcnt of the crino of liquor selling exceeds that Of many of tho crimes for merely attempting or soliciting tho commission of which, persons have been hold liablo to punishment. The soliciting a witness to 50 to & place where he could not bo reached by 8 subpoena; 6. Bt 67;) the leasing premises to Do used for 8 house of prostitution | 6 Pick. 2G;) the melting another to commit a,l assault, (i BreVard 3o7,) cited in our former arti- clc, were held ndctable offences yet nono of ti.cso crimes arc punished as severely as liquor ,In,, us, therefore, that if tho Mass Courts should de- cidc of their certainly indicate that Q purchaser of liquor is not liable for procuring tho commission of tho crine of fliquor-selling then courts will go directly tho face of we'll settled principles of criminal law, and of repeated decis- ions of courts of the highest authority.
 l What Mir. Greonlcaf said in Sec. 3S2 of his work on Evidence cited by Mr. Patt, has reference to conBpiracos, and no reference whatever to tho so- lictation of single criminal acts. Ho relied on the | case in Howclls Stato Trials, not that in Gray, which was not tried till long afterwards. Nor is the latter decision based any such principle; it l mcroly assents to tho authority of Commonwealth ys. Willard.
 The only ca5o we haVo yot soon directly in point, is tho Tom. decision we before cited and, al- though the authority of Southern and Western Courts has never stood as high as tEoso nearer homo, to imagine that authority in any way impair ed hy the EelAI1inn E nt lan4a ei,s Tho gontlcman's noyclmoral position that some crimes arc forbidden by the law of God under all circumstances, while others not-seems to us 6 mere refinement on the Jesuitcal orror which jus l tiies tho doing of ovil that good may come 
 In concluding tho last articlo we intend writing on this subject, VIC think it duo to ourselves to state, that heartily dislike to oppose tho action of any sincere friend of Temperance such as VIC take Mr. Pltt to be; and that we dislike still more to sec OUT remarks quoted with approval by thoso who hato good cause. Nevertheless, VIC have felt it our duty to object to mode of procedure that seems to Us legally well morally, crimi- nal, and which is undoubtedly considered highly discredtable and incxpodient by s largo minority, If not large majority, of Temperance mon We wish that gentleman might himself carefully weigh the closing words of the Court in tho latest and most favorable decision he has been enabled to cite-that of the Supreme Court of Mass, in Com monwealth, vs Downing, Gray, S. Yielding. ] as the Court there docs, to the opinion of Judge Shaw in Commonwealth vs. Willard, and holding that the testimony of detective employed to ob. tain evidence against quor-sollcr, would be sui. ticiont evidence. uncorroborated, to warrant con- viction, they, nevertheless administer tho follow ing rebuke to the judge of the lower court who had justified that modo of obtaining evidence :- ' But wo do not wish to be understood as express- ing any concurrence with the remarks of the pre- siding judge [of tho lower court.l We Miak ht might ereR hdce instructed Ne jury Mat such testi- neony 'cas to be 2eceiued ac Ne greatest caution l and djst3stSt.'
 n@- 'Tho City of Meriden' is contin- uea on our fourth page-most popular and exiting serial of tho season-tremendous run in the State papers author unknown style indicates Hon. J. Gallagher-de- noument terrific, founded on the Riggs- Rogers tragedy-back numbers furnished new subscribers sending in their names and cash forthwith.