Case Name: Commonwealth vs. Warren K. Snow
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1882-11-28
Citations: 133 Mass. 575
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth vs. Warren K. Snow.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 133
Pages: 575–576

Head Matter:
Commonwealth vs. Warren K. Snow.
Middlesex.
November 27.
—28, 1882.
Lord & Devens, JJ., absent.
At the trial of a complaint for keeping intoxicating liquors for sale in violation of law, it is sufficient, under the Pub. Sts. c. 100, § 27, for the government to prove that the defendant kept lager beer with intent to sell it unlawfully, without further proof that it was intoxicating, or that it contained more than three per cent of alcohol.
Complaint to the District Court of Central Middlesex, alleging that the defendant, on September 23, 1881, at Concord, unlawfully kept intoxicating liquors, with intent unlawfully to sell the same in this Commonwealth.
At the trial in the Superior Court, before Brigham, C. J., it was in evidence that a quantity of bottled lager beer was found on the premises of the defendant. The question whether it was kept for sale was not contested by the defendant. The judge instructed the jury that it was sufficient evidence to convict, if it was proven to be lager beer and kept for illegal sale.
The defendant asked the judge to give the following instructions: “1. The jury must be satisfied that this beer was intoxicating, and, in order for it to be intoxicating, under the statutes, it must contain more than three per cent of alcohol, and, if it did not contain that amount, the jury must acquit. 2. The entire burden of proof is on the government to prove that this liquor was intoxicating, and, in order so to do, the government must prove that it contained over three per cent of alcohol.” But the judge declined to give these instructions.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty; and the defendant alleged exceptions.
J. W. Reed, for the defendant.
G. Marston, Attorney General, & C. H. Barrows, Assistant Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.

Opinion:
By the Court.
The Pub. Sts. c. 100, § 27, did not change the existing laws upon the same subject. Under this section, it was sufficient for the government to prove that the defendant kept lager beer with intent to sell it unlawfully, without further proof that it was intoxicating, or that it contained more than three per cent of alcohol. Sts. 1875, c. 99, § 18; 1880, c. 239, § 5. Commonwealth v. Curran, 119 Mass. 206.
Exceptions overruled.
" Ale, porter, strong beer, lager beer, cider, all wines, and any beverage containing more than three per cent of alcohol, by volume, at sixty degrees Fahrenheit, as well as distilled spirits, shall be deemed to be intoxicating liquor within the meaning of this chapter."