Source: https://theblackletter.co.uk/tag/us-criminal-law/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 22:06:37+00:00

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The criminal law section is now complete.
Having started work on this legal discipline in July 2018, I am just beyond thrilled to announce that this often harrowing, and yet equally compelling chapter of the United States Case Law Compendium is now well and truly finished.
While I’m aware that I listed the first half of this section in a previous blog post, I thought I would show the whole 122 cases here for convenience (plus it also helps me to acknowledge the sheer scale of this entry), and although I’m happy to be moving on to property law, it’s still an ending for me of sorts, and I can honestly say that it’s been an experience that has deepened my understanding of American criminal law to no end, which is more than I could have anticipated, and so my only wish is that potential readers will feel the same when they invest themselves into the cases studied (or rather simplified).
Anyway, without blathering on too much about it all, here is the criminal law section in all of its glory, and my apologies for such a long post.
23. Direct Sales Co. v. U.S.
54. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. v. U.S.
116. U.S. Regent Office Supply Co.
119. U.S. v. U.S. Gypsum Co.
120. U.S. v. X-Citement Video Inc.
Author Neil Egan-RonaynePosted on March 5, 2019 March 26, 2019 Categories United States Case LawTags BOOKS, Case Law, juris doctor, law, Neil Egan-Ronayne, The Case Law Compendium: US Law, US Criminal LawLeave a comment on The criminal law section is now complete.
Theft without violence or fear of violence upon the victim cannot constitute robbery, as was demonstrated in this simple case of taking without a vendor’s consent in 1931.
Having entered the store of a Buckeye resident at the point of their opening it, the appellant took the opportunity to make off with a bag containing $33 while the shopkeeper was attending another task nearby, after which he was later arrested and confessed to stealing the money.
Drawing the line between judicial governance of the family unit, or in the very least of cases, domestic relationships, was a task discussed in a case dating back to 1868, in which a spouse was prone to seek reparation in the criminal courts when her husband struck her in a manner designed to enforce compliance at a time when women and children’s rights were quite literally unheard of.
Having suffered three blows of the defendant’s switch, which by law could be no wider than a man’s thumb, (hence the phrase ‘rule of thumb’), the defendant was indicted for assault and battery before the North Carolina Supreme Court, on grounds that his actions were unprovoked and therefore unlawful, and upon which the court was tasked with an examination of leading case precedent in order to ‘draw the line’ as to when they were entitled to probe further into such apparently trifle matters.
I have now completed part I of the criminal law section!
Today I sit here grinning like a Cheshire cat in the knowledge that I have now completed just over half of the criminal law section of this incredible compendium, and when I calculate the hours spent writing and researching even this chapter, it’s a testament to my perseverance and absolute commitment to completing a body of work that is undoubtedly the biggest writing project I have ever undertaken.
When you consider that each case can take anywhere between 3-5 hours to read, analyse, research and write (and some even longer), and that I have been working on this section alone since late July 2018, my excitement and pride in having got this far is spilling over, and I genuinely cannot wait to see how this book looks and reads when its finally finished next year; while I would also add that its often proved harrowing having to read about some horrific acts of cruelty, not only to adults but also to young and innocent children, and its shown how awful human nature can be sometimes, but then again I wholly accept that it goes with the territory of crime, which perhaps also shows why it’s by far the largest section of the book.
Anyway without waffling on too much about my own struggles, below is a list of the first 63 cases contained within this particular segment, and next week I begin working on the final 61 cases before moving on to property law. Phew!
Author Neil Egan-RonaynePosted on November 30, 2018 March 26, 2019 Categories United States Case LawTags BOOKS, Case Law, juris doctor, Neil Egan-Ronayne, The Case Law Compendium: US Law, US Criminal Law, WritingLeave a comment on I have now completed part I of the criminal law section!
Although legislation is required to embrace a degree of flexibility so as to enable the interpretive role of the judiciary, there are sometimes instances where ambiguity becomes so manifest that the courts are forced to discount the validity of such statute when constitutional rights are impinged without redress, as was found in this case between innocent individuals and a seemingly overzealous State.
And thereby sentenced to between five and ten years hard labour on grounds that the men had been previously convicted of criminal offences in Pennsylvania before entering the State, to which the men appealed in the New Jersey Supreme Court on grounds that their convictions were violative of the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
To which the petitioners appealed again to the U.S. Supreme Court, who took the time to reexamine the constitutionality of the previous verdicts.
Duty of care for the purposes of a criminal conviction must always be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and so when two women are tried for the neglect and subsequent death of the younger of two siblings, the court is left wanting in the face of an appeal that exploits the absence of legal obligation and contractual structure, along with fresh evidence of a judicial error.
In 1957, a young single girl fell pregnant with a boy whose birth resulted in her asking that the appellant take the child and care for it in exchange for monthly payments, to which the appellant agreed, only for the same mother to fall pregnant again some months later with another boy, who on this occasion fell sick and was forced to remain hospitalised for a determinate period.
Upon his discharge, the mother and second child then lived with the appellant for a a number of weeks, before she left to return home with her parents, thereby leaving the appellant to raise and care for the two children unaided and now unpaid.
Following a number of doctor visits concerning bronchial infections and treatment for diarrhoea, it was mentioned by the physician that the younger child was to be taken to hospital to receive much needed medical care, however the appellant ignored the request and continued to care for the boys alone.
This arrangement continued uninterrupted until two utility debt collectors noticed the boys in a downstairs basement and reported their findings to the local police, who investigated the matter, only to find one of the children living in what could best be described a wire mesh chicken coup, while the youngest child was living in a bassinet, however both boys were found to covered in cockroaches and showing visible signs of malnutrition, at which point they were both removed and placed into urgent hospital care.
Unfortunately some thirty-four hours after his admission, the youngest of the children died from the effects of prolonged malnutrition, and so both women were indicted before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of abuse, maltreatment and involuntary manslaughter, the latter of which only the appellant was found guilty and convicted accordingly.
However the caveat to this precedent was that it must be equally proven that a legal, contractual but not moral obligation underpinned the duties, and further that a failure to execute them would result in the immediate and direct cause of death and nothing less.
Author Neil Egan-RonaynePosted on November 10, 2018 November 10, 2018 Categories US Criminal LawTags Abuse, children, Columbia, Court of Appeals, Involuntary Manslaughter, Jones v. U.S., jury, Malnutrition, Maltreatment, Neil Egan-Ronayne, People v. Beardsley, US Criminal LawLeave a comment on Jones v. U.S.
The willful if not reckless action of a drunken soldier lies central to a manslaughter charge that almost left the defendant facing imprisonment for something (i) he did not do and (ii) could not recall.
Having been temporarily released from military service during the tail end of WWII, the defendant was arrested for public drunkenness, and so too inebriated to stand trial, he was ordered by the county judge to spend time in jail, whereupon he became violently aggressive and refused to leave the court.
After falling to the ground, the defendant continued to resist the actions of the jailer, who after trying hard with others to get him up, left the room and collapsed of a fatal heart attack, upon which the attending doctors later announced that his death had resulted from acute dilatation of the heart brought on by sudden physical exercise and excitement arising from the scuffle.
Tried in the circuit court of Jackson County, the jury found the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter subject to a prison sentence of two years, upon which the defendant explained that he had no memory of the events and that the deceased was his friend.
Upon which the court noted that the defendant had not at any point, made actual physical contact with the deceased, a fact which was further compounded by the truth that the deceased had complained of ill-health that day, and yet chose to continue working in a familiar and frequently stressful environment, therefore the court abruptly reversed the previous judgment in full.

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