Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/43/43mass329.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 08:38:21+00:00

Document:
The law (Rev. Sts. c. 142,) authorizing magistrates to issue warrants to search for and seize lottery tickets, or materials for a lottery, unlawfully made, provided or procured, for the purpose of drawing a lottery, is not inconsistent with the 14th article of the declaration of rights.
The house or place where lottery tickets, &c. are believed to be concealed, is sufficiently designated and described in a search warrant, according to the provision of the Rev. Sts. c. 142, § 3, by denominating it the office of D. and truly stating the number thereof and the street in which it is situate, although A. occupies the office with D.
If a search warrant and the complaint on which it is issued be on the same paper, and the things to be searched for be properly designated and described in the complaint, and the warrant direct the officer to search for the things mentioned in the above complaint, the process is legal and sufficient, without any further designation or description of the things in the warrant itself.
Books kept in relation to the proceedings respecting a lottery are materials for a lottery, within the meaning of the Rev. Sts. c. 142, and may be seized on a search warrant.
The admission in evidence, on the trial of the defendant, of articles seized on a search warrant and taken from him, is not a violation of the 12th article of the declaration of rights.
The prohibition, in the Rev. Sts. c. 132, of the sale, &c. of tickets in any lottery not authorized by law, extends to all lotteries not authorized by a law having force in this Commonwealth.
On the trial of a defendant, on an indictment for unlawfully having in his possession lottery tickets, with intent to sell them, after it was proved that he had such tickets in his possession, the judge instructed the jury, that if from the whole of the evidence, they were led to the belief that the defendant did sell and deal in lottery tickets, and had them in his possession for that purpose, as charged in the indictment, they would be authorized to find him guilty, unless he had succeeded on his part, as had become his duty, to explain the facts and circumstances consistently with his innocence of that unlawful intention. Held, that there was no legal exception to this instruction.
In an indictment on the Rev. Sts. c. 132, for having in possession lottery tickets with intent to sell or offer them for sale, it is not necessary to aver the intent of the defendant to sell or offer them for sale within this Commonwealth.
count alleged that the defendant, on the 4th of January, 1841, at Boston, unlawfully had in his possession, with intent to offer for sale, and to sell and aid and assist in selling, negotiating and disposing of five hundred certain lottery tickets, and five hundred shares, to wit, halves and quarter tickets and shares, &c. in a certain lottery called School Fund Lottery, for the benefit of public schools in the State of Rhode Island. In the second count the defendant was charged with unlawfully having in his possession, with intent to sell, a ticket in the lottery aforesaid, the purport and effect of which was set forth at large. The fourth count was like the second, except in the description of the ticket. The third count charged the defendant with having unlawfully incited and enticed, and having attempted to incite and entice sundry persons to the jurors unknown, to purchase and receive certain lottery tickets and certain shares, viz. halves and quarter tickets, in the lottery before mentioned. The fifth count alleged that the defendant did unlawfully advertise lottery tickets and shares in lottery tickets for sale, and did set up and exhibit representations of a lottery, and of the drawing thereof, indicating thereby where a lottery ticket or a share thereof, might be purchased and obtained. The sixth count was like the fourth, except that it set forth a share of a ticket instead of a whole ticket.
jury, and it was read accordingly. To this ruling, the defendant excepted.
The officer who served the warrant produced at the trial sundry articles by him taken under the writ, at the service of the same, and in the office of the defendant; some of which articles were the property of J. Phalen & Co. but containing lottery tickets in the School Fund Lottery of the State of Rhode Island, and all in the care and keeping of the defendant. The counsel for the defendant objected to the admission of these articles so taken by the officer and shown to the jury in court, on the ground that he had exceeded his authority under the search warrant, and moved that the same be excluded. But the judge refused to exclude any thing from the jury, which was done or taken by the officer in execution of the warrant. To which the defendant's counsel excepted.
"To maintain the issue on his part, the counsel for the defendant offered to read in evidence the certified copy of an act of the State of Rhode Island, passed at the January session of their legislature in 1839, authorizing Philip Case, his executors, his heirs, administrators and assigns, to put forth a lottery for the benefit of public schools; and offered further to prove, that said Case had duly assigned the grant, and all the benefit of said lottery, to Phalen & Co., who are the present owners and managers of the same; and also that the tickets seized in the defendant's possession, and now in evidence against him, were genuine and valid tickets in said lottery, and duly issued under the authority of said act of the State of Rhode Island. To this evidence the attorney for the Commonwealth objected, as not being competent evidence, and the court sustained the objection, and refused to permit the act to be read. To which the defendant's counsel excepted.
"The defendant's counsel moved the court to instruct the jury, that lottery tickets, in a lottery which is authorized by a law of the State of Rhode Island, where the said School Fund in this Commonwealth, with intent to sell, was prohibited by the Lottery is established, were not tickets, the possession of which statute for a violation of which the defendant was on trial. But the judge refused so to instruct the jury, and did instruct them, as matter of law, that the possession of a ticket, with intent to sell it, in any lottery which was not authorized by some law of this Commonwealth, or of the congress of the United States, for a national purpose, was prohibited by said statute, and that such construction was to be given to the phrase therein, in the first section of said 132d chapter of the revised statutes, not authorized by law. To which instruction the defendant's counsel excepted.
The jury found the defendant guilty on the first five counts in the indictment, and not guilty on the sixth.
J. H. Patten, of New York, Choate & English, for the defendant.
Austin, (Attorney General,) for the Commonwealth.
WILDE, J. This was an indictment for the alleged violations of the 132d chapter of the revised statutes, prohibiting the sale of lottery tickets, or the possession of the same with intent to sell, or to offer them for sale, or the aiding and assisting in any such sale. The case comes before us on sundry exceptions to the rulings of the judge of the municipal court at the trial.
and did believe, that lottery tickets, and materials for a lottery, unlawfully made, for the purpose of drawing a lottery, were concealed in the office of the defendant, and sundry other places.
By the Rev. Sts. c. 142, § 2, any magistrate is authorized to issue warrants to search for and seize lottery tickets, or materials for a lottery, unlawfully made, provided or procured, for the purpose of drawing a lottery, when he shall be satisfied that there is reasonable cause, upon complaint made on oath, that the complainant believes that lottery tickets or materials for a lottery are concealed in any particular house or place.
were not ignorant of those principles. They were well known, and warmly cherished by those enlightened statesmen, as important and necessary for the security of civil liberty. They had been discussed, and powerfully and eloquently maintained, in the discussions had respecting writs of assistance, several years before the decision in Entick v. Carrington.
With the fresh recollection of those stirring discussions, and of the revolution which followed them, the article in the Bill of Rights, respecting searches and seizures, was framed and adopted. This article does not prohibit all searches and seizures of a man's person, his papers, and possessions; but such only as are unreasonable, and the foundation of which is not previously supported by oath or affirmation. The legislature were not deprived of the power to authorize search warrants for probable causes, supported by oath or affirmation, and for the punishment or suppression of any violation of law. The law, therefore, authorizing search warrants in certain cases, is in no respect inconsistent with the declaration of rights.
We are also of the opinion, that the warrant in this case is in conformity with all the requisitions of the statute and the declaration of rights. The complaint is under oath, and alleges a probable cause to authorize the search and seizure. The articles seized are described, and the place in which they were concealed is designated, with sufficient certainty. There could be no difficulty in ascertaining, by inspection, the articles which the officer was directed to seize. The place of concealment is alleged to be the office of the defendant, No. 2 Devonshire Street, rear of 23 State Street. The defendant occupied that office, and the fact that another person occupied it with him cannot be considered as constituting a material variance.
It has been objected that the articles seized are not described, nor is the place of concealment designated in the warrant, but only in the complaint. But considering that the complaint and the warrant are on the same paper, that there is a reference in the warrant to the complaint, for the description of the articles to be seized, and that this form of proceeding has been uniform for more than fifty years, in search warrants for stolen goods; we cannot think that this formal objection has any foundation.
It has been objected further, that the warrant was illegally served, because the officer seized books, &c., and it is argued that books are not materials for a lottery. But we think that books, kept in relation to the proceedings respecting a lottery, are to be considered as materials for a lottery; and it does not appear that any other books were seized.
Again, it has been urged, that the seizure of the lottery tickets and materials for a lottery, for the purpose of using them as evidence against the defendant, is virtually compelling him to furnish evidence against himself, in violation of another article in the declaration of rights. But the right of search and seizure does not depend on the question whether the papers or property seized were intended to be used in evidence against the offender or not. The possession of lottery tickets with the intent to sell them was a violation of law. The defendant's possession, therefore, was unlawful, and the tickets were liable to seizure as belonging to the corpus delicti, or for the purpose of preventing any further violations of law.
In cases of the seizure of stolen goods on search warrants, the goods have almost in all cases been given in evidence against the offender, and no one I apprehend ever supposed that a seizure for that purpose was a violation of the declaration of rights; and in this respect there is no distinction between the seizure of stolen goods and the seizure of lottery tickets.
Jordan v. Lewis, 14 East, 306, note; and we are entirely satisfied that the principle on which these cases were decided is sound and well established. On either of these grounds, therefore, we are of the opinion that the evidence on the part of the Commonwealth was rightfully admitted.
In the defence, a copy of an act of the State of Rhode Island was offered in evidence, by which it appeared, that the tickets seized in the defendant's possession were duly issued under the authority of that State. This evidence was rejected as immaterial, and we think it was rightly rejected for that reason. The laws of Rhode Island, or any other State, have no force in this Commonwealth. It is true the court, on the principle of comity, will take notice of the laws of another State, and will enforce contracts made there, or in reference to such laws. But the principle of comity has no application to the present case. The defendant is charged with an offence committed in this Commonwealth, in violation of the Rev. Sts. c. 132, §§ 1, 2. And according to the construction we give to that statute, it would be no defence to prove that the tickets found in the defendant's possession, with the intent charged in the indictment, were duly issued by the authority of the State of Rhode Island.
By the first section, Every person who shall set up or promote any lottery, not authorized by law, for money, &c., is made liable to be punished by a fine not exceeding $ 2000. And by the second section, Every person who shall sell, or shall offer for sale, or shall have in his possession with intent to sell or to offer for sale a ticket, in any such lottery, or a share of ticket, shall be liable to be punished by a like fine.
State, is such an impeachment of the discernment and foresight of the legislature, as cannot be admitted. Such a supposition is inconsistent with the manifest design of the statute, which was to suppress lotteries not authorized by law, and to prevent the sale of any tickets in such lotteries, and thus to put a stop, as far as might be, to the many evils resulting from that species of gambling.
the part of the defendant, unless all the circumstances were such as to be inconsistent with any other hypothesis than an intention to sell the tickets. Such an instruction would be clearly wrong; for the most extravagant and unreasonable hypothesis may be imagined, to account for any facts on false grounds.
To this charge to the jury, if rightly understood, we think there is no legal exception. It has been objected, that by the charge the burden of proof was thrown on the defendant to prove his innocence. But we think this is not the meaning of the charge; for the jury were instructed, that they were not authorized to find the defendant guilty, unless the evidence was such as to lead them to believe that he was guilty. The remark that it was the duty of the defendant to explain those facts and circumstances proved against him, consistently with his innocence, meant no more than he ought so to do. But still if he failed, they were not to find a verdict against him, unless on the whole evidence they believed him guilty. If they doubted, they were to acquit him. So the case was left to the jury on the right footing, namely, that the burden of proof was not shifted, but still remained on the Commonwealth to prove the guilt of the defendant, and if a reasonable doubt remained, the defendant was to be acquitted.
was, that the indictment did not allege the defendant's intent to sell, &c. the tickets within this Commonwealth. This motion was argued by English, for the defendant, and by Austin, (Attorney General,) for the Commonwealth.
SHAW, C. J. When it is the intent of a party convicted to move in arrest of judgment, in a case brought before this court by exceptions, after a conviction below, on the ground that the indictment is fatally defective, so that no valid judgment can be rendered upon it, it is very convenient that such a motion should be filed before the argument on the exceptions. It may often occur, that the defect in the indictment will render the conviction, and of course the exceptions, immaterial; and sometimes the question on the exceptions, and that on the motion in arrest, will bear such a relation to each other, that it is most convenient to hear them together, and to consider both, before a decision is made on either. But as there is no established rule on the subject, we cannot say that the present motion comes too late. See Commonwealth v. Peck, 1 Met. 428 .
The objection to the first and several other counts in the indictment is, that although it alleges, that the defendant at Boston, &c. unlawfully had lottery tickets in his possession, with an intent to sell the same, it does not allege an intent to sell the same within this Commonwealth; and the question is, whether such an averment is necessary.
well this Commonwealth, as all other places. It is, in this respect, general and unlimited.
Where the possession of an article is made punishable because so held with a guilty intent, if the act intended is malum in se, it is no answer to the charge, that it was intended thus to be committed out of the Commonwealth; it is within the words of the statute and the mischief intended to be prevented. Commonwealth v. Cone, 2 Mass. 132 .
-that is, with an intent to sell within the Commonwealth- it must have been so averred in the indictment, because it would have been a necessary ingredient in the description of the offence. As it is not so expressed in the statute, this rule does not apply; and the court are of opinion that the intent to sell generally, being averred in the indictment, in the words of the statute, it is sufficient, although it should be held, on trial, that proof of an intent to sell in another State only would not bring the case within the statute so as to warrant a conviction.
There being several counts in the indictment, to which there is no other exception than the above, it becomes unnecessary to consider the other alleged causes for arresting the judgment.
Motion in arrest of judgment overruled.
[Note p330] The complaint and warrant, and the officer's return, were thus: To the Justices of the Police Court within and for the city of Boston, Jonathan F. Pulsifer of the city of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, Trader, on oath informs the said Justices, that the following goods, to wit: he has reason to believe and does believe that lottery tickets and materials for a lottery unlawfully made, provided and procured for the purpose of drawing a lottery are concealed in the following places, to wit: Office of Elisha W. Dana, No. 2 Devonshire Street, rear of 23 State Street. [Seven other places and persons were also mentioned in this complaint]--and prays a Warrant to search there for the same.
Received and sworn to, before said court, this fourth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
Suffolk to wit: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To the Sheriff of our County of Suffolk, his Deputies, and the Constables of our city of Boston, greeting. We command you and each of you, forthwith, with necessary and proper assistants, to enter, in the day time, into the places mentioned in the above information, and there search for the tickets and materials there named, and if the same, or any part thereof, shall be found on such search, that you bring the tickets and materials so found, together with the body of the person or persons in whose possession found, if they may be found in our said city, before said court, to be disposed of and dealt with as to law and justice shall appertain.
You are also commanded, in like manner, to notify the informant to appear and give evidence touching the matter contained in the above complaint when and where you have the said goods and person, or either of them.
Witness, WILLIAM SIMMONS, Esquire, at Boston, this fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
Suffolk, ss. City of Boston, January 4, 1841. I have made diligent search in the within named shops, and found in the office of E. W. Dana, George E. Dana and Benjamin Eaton, a large lot of lottery tickets, books, &c., and I arrested the bodies of E. W. Dana, George E. Dana and Benjamin Eaton, in whose possession I found said tickets, &c. and this 5th day of January I have of them before the court as directed.
[Note p339] S. P. The People v. Sturdevant, 23 Wend. 418.

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