Summary
In State v. Pirlot, 19 R.I. 695, the indictment charged that the defendant "did unlawfully practice medicine and surgery for reward and compensation, against the form of the statute," without setting forth in what the unlawfulness consisted.
Summary of this case from The People v. BrownOpinion
January 22, 1897.
The rules of criminal pleading require that the offences be charged specifically, in order First, that the accused may know precisely what he is to defend against: and Second, that the record of his acquittal or conviction may be a bar to a subsequent prosecution for the same offence.
DEMURRERS to indictments. Certified from the Common Pleas Division.
Edward C. Dubois, Attorney General, for the State.
Cassius L. Kneeland Arthur Cushing, for respondents.
These indictments charge merely that the defendants "did unlawfully practice medicine and surgery, for reward and compensation, against the form of the statutes," c., without setting forth in what the unlawfulness consisted. The rules of criminal pleading require that the offence shall be charged specifically, first, in order that the accused may know precisely what he is to defend against, and secondly, that the record of his acquittal or conviction may be a bar to a subsequent prosecution for the same offence. State v. Doyle, 11 R.I. 574; State v. Smith, 17 R.I. 371.
Demurrers sustained, and case remitted to the Common Pleas Division with direction to quash.