Case Name: JOHNSON'S CASE
Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Maine
Decision Date: 1821-05
Citations: 1 Me. 230
Docket Number: 
Parties: JOHNSON’S CASE.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maine Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 230–231

Head Matter:
JOHNSON’S CASE.
In all criminal prosecutions, an appeal lies from the sentence of a Justice of the peace, who tries without a jury, to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, where a trial by jury may be had ; by necessary construction of the Constitution of Maine, art. 1. sec. 6.
Johnson being brought into Court upon a writ of habeas corpus sent to the prison keeper of the county of Cumberland, it appeared by the officer’s return that he had been prosecuted before a Justice of the peace, under Stat. 1793. ch. 59. sec. 8. for keeping a house of ill-fame, and sentenced to imprisonment in the common gaol as a house of correction, for a term which was not yet expired.
Bray, for the prisoner,
shewed a copy of the Justice’s record, by which it appeared that, Johnson on being sentenced by the Justice, had claimed an appeal to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, tendered the fees, and offered sufficient sureties for the prosecution of his appeal:—but the Justice, considering that no appeal would lie in a summary proceeding of this kind, refused the application.

Opinion:
Per curiam.
By the law of Massachusetts, Stat. 1783. ch. 51. an appeal was granted, in all criminal cases, from the sentence of a Justice of the peace. This right has been abridged in some instances, by particular statutes;—-but in all other cases has been understood to exist in full force.
The right, however, in this State, is placed on a more durable basis than the pleasure of the legislature. The Constitution of Maine, art. 1. sec. 6. declares that " in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have a right-to have a speedy, public, and impartial trial, and, except in trials by martial law or impeachment, by a jury of the vicinityIn order to give effect to this provision, the accused must, of necessity, be entitled to an appeal from the sentence of a Justice of the peace, who tries without the intervention of a jury, to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, where a trial by jury may be had.
The present case being a criminal prosecution, and not within the exception in the Constitution, is of course within the rule: —and the prisoner must be discharged, on entering into such recognizance before the magistrate, as he would have entered into for the prosecution of his appeal had it been allowed.