2 Lans. 227 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1870
By the Court
The caption is no part of the .indictment, and it is unnecessary either in the caption or in the body of an indictment to state the names or the number of the grand jury. It is sufficient if the indictment shows upon its face that the grand jury were of the number and qualification required by law, as it does here. (People v. Bennett, 37 N. Y., 117). The question in that case, arose upon motion to quash the indictment, for the same alleged defect. It appears upon the face of the indictment that the grand jury were duly sworn and presented the defendant on their oaths. It was proper to show the name which the corporation owning the property was generally known by. The building was alleged in the indictment to belong to the “ Phcenix Mills Company.” The name of the corporation as it appears in the certificate of organization is “ The Phcenix Mills of Seneca Falls.” That is, therefore, its legal name. But in an indictment if the name of the person stated as the one injured, is the name by which he is usually known it is sufficient, although that is not his real name. (Arch. Crim. Pl., 31, 3d Am. ed.) There is no good reason why this well settled rule should not apply to the name of a corporation as well as to that, of an individual. If the description of the party injured is sufficient to inform the prisoner who are his accusers, or whose property he is accused of having taken or injured, that is enough. (1 Chit. Crim. Law, 211.)
It was also proper to prove what the building injured was erected for. It was alleged in the i idictment to have been
The.charge of the judge to the jury that if the building was “ so far advanced in its construction as to have assumed the form and character of a building, and to he properly denominated a building,” it was the subject of arson, within the meaning and intent of the statute, was, I think, correct. It was left to the jury to say as matter of fact whether it was advanced to that stage. The statute (2 R. S., 667, § 4) designates several buildings which are made the subjects of arson in the third degree, when “ set fire to or burned in the night time,” as “the house of another not .the subject of arson in the first or second degree,” “ any house of public worship or any school-house,” “ any public building belonging to the public,” &c\, “ any barn or grist mill,” “ any building erected for the manufacturing of cotton or woolen goods, or both, or
Ordered accordingly.
Note. — It is held by the Court of Appeals in Brandon v. The People, &c., decided June 21st, 1870, that a prisoner who testifies on his own behalf, is subject to a like cross-examination with other witnesses. [Rep.]