Case Name: Commonwealth vs. John J. Ryan
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1871-11
Citations: 108 Mass. 415
Docket Number: 
Parties: Commonwealth vs. John J. Ryan.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 108
Pages: 415–416

Head Matter:
Commonwealth vs. John J. Ryan.
In support of an indictment on the Gen. Sts. c. 87, §§ 6, 7, for keeping a tenement for the illegal sale and illegal keeping of intoxicating liquors between the day when the St. of 1870, c. 389, took effect, and the day when the inhabitants of the city where the tenement was situated might under that statute first vote to prohibit the sale of malt liquors, evidence is competent that the defendant kept ale for sale and sold ale there between those (lays.
Indictment on the Gen. Sts. c. 87, §§ 6, 7, for keeping and m lintaining at Lynn on June 1, 1870, and divers other days and times between that day and the first Monday of October 1870, a tenement used by the defendant for the illegal- sale and illegal keeping of intoxicating liquors. Trial and verdict of guilty in the superior court, before Pitman, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions of which the following is the material part:
“ Upon the trial, the Commonwealth put in evidence tending to prove that between July 22, 1870, and the first Tuesday of September 1870, the defendant kept for sale and sold ale. The defendant objected to the evidence, and contended that within said time he had a right to keep and sell ale ; but the judge declined so to rule, and instructed the jury that the keeping and selling of ale within said time was competent evidence to prove the guilt of the defendant under the indictment. It was proved and admitted that the city of Lynn had voted against the sale of ale on the first Tuesday of September 1870.”
The 22d of July 1870 was the day when the St. of 1870, c. 389, went into effect, and the first Tuesday of September 1870 was the day when the city might for the first time under that statute vote to prohibit the sale of malt liquors.
iS. B. Ives, Jr., for the defendant.
The single question is whether it was illegal to “ keep for sale ” ale in the city of Lynn between the 22d of July and the first Tuesday of September 1870; and the defendant submits it upon the argument made in the case of Commonwealth v. Grady, ante, 412, 414.
C. Allen, Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.

Opinion:
Chapman, C. J.
The indictment is under the nuisance act, and that act was not repealed by the St. of 1870, cc. 389, 390. Evidence that the defendant kept for sale and sold ale between July 22 and the first Tuesday of September 1870, was competent to show that he sold ale during that time, and thus kept his tenement for an illegal purpose. Commonwealth v. Bennett, ante, 30. Commonwealth v. Kennedy, ante, 292. Exceptions overruled.