Case Name: Commonwealth vs. Emma Smith
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1885-01-08
Citations: 138 Mass. 489
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth vs. Emma Smith.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 138
Pages: 489–489

Head Matter:
Commonwealth vs. Emma Smith.
Suffolk.
Nov. 24, 1884.
Jan. 8, 1885.
Field, C. Allen, & Colburn, JJ., absent.
Under the Pub. Sts. c. 154, § 50, the Municipal Court of Boston has jurisdiction of a complaint on the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, for keeping a house of ill-fame.
Complaint to the Municipal Court of Boston, under the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, charging the defendant with keeping a house of ill-fame in Boston.
In the Superior Court, before the jury were empanelled, the defendant, moved to quash the complaint, on the ground that the court had no jurisdiction, because the court to which the complaint was made had none. The judge overruled the motion; and the defendant thereupon pleaded guilty, and appealed to this court.
T. Riley, for the defendant.
H. N. Shepard, Assistant Attorney General,
for the Commonwealth, submitted the case without argument.

Opinion:
Morton, C. J.
The keeper of a house of ill-fame may be punished either under the Pub. Sts. c. 207, § 13, or under c. 101, § 7. Commonwealth v. Ballou, 124 Mass. 26.
The complaint in the case at bar was brought under the Pub. Sts. e. 207, § 13, which provides that the keeper of a house of ill-fame shall be punished by imprisonment in the jail not exceeding two years. The defendant contends that the Municipal Court of the city of Boston has not jurisdiction of this offence. The Pub. Sts. e. 154, § 50, provide that the original criminal jurisdiction of that court " shall include all crimes under the degree of felony," with certain exceptions not affecting this case. As the offence charged in this case is not a felony, it follows that it is within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Court of the city of Boston. Pub. Sts. c. 210, § 1.
Exceptions overruled'.