Case Name: United States v. David Carr
Court: United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1823-11
Citations: 2 Cranch 439
Docket Number: 
Parties: United States v. David Carr.
Judges: (Thruston, J., absent,)
Reporter: Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (District of Columbia - reported by Mackey)
Volume: 2
Pages: 439–440

Head Matter:
United States v. David Carr.
In cases of misdemeanor, the Court in Alexandria will not compel the traverser to plead to the indictment, until a prosecutor’s name be indorsed; and the recognizance will be respited; unless the attorney of the United States shall satisfy the Court that it is a case which ought to be excepted out of the general rule.
Indictment for selling spirituous liquors without license. No name of a prosecutor was written at the foot of the indictment, as required by the Virginia statute of November 13, 1792, c. 74, <§><§> 24, 25. Nor had the offence been presented by the grand jury, upon the knowledge of two of their body, nor upon the testimony of a witness called upon by the Court, or the grand jury, according to the provisions of the Virginia statute of December 2,1795, c. 188, § 2.
Mr. Taylor, for the defendant,
objected to pleading until a prosecutor’s name should be indorsed.
Mr. Swann, for the United States,
stated that the recognizance
had been returned by a justice of the peace, with the names of the witnesses, and he sent them to the grand jury; and that he could satisfy the Court that it is a case which should be excepted out of the general rule, and a day was assigned to hear the witnesses. See the general rule of November term, 1807.

Opinion:
The CouRT
(Thruston, J., absent,)
said that they would not compel the defendant to plead to the indictment until a prosecutor's name should be indorsed, and that the recognizance should be respited.