6 Park. Cr. 657 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1865
Before exceptions were given in criminal cases it had become the practice in this State, of Courts of Oyer and Terminer and General Sessions and other inferior courts having criminal jurisdiction, to suspend sentence after conviction, when difficult or important questions of law had arisen upon the trial, and ask the advice of the Supreme Court in respect to such questions. The practice was sanctioned by this court, and such advice was given as though applied for in due legal form. (6 Cowen, 556.) In the Revised Statutes of 1830, exceptions were given in criminal cases as in civil, with the writ of certiorari, to bring up for review questions of law made and decided at the trial which obviously dispensed with the necessity of such practice, and it has since in a great degree fallen into disuse. But applications of this kind have nevertheless been made and entertained in some instances since the revision of the statutes in 1860. Such was the case of The People v. Wright (9 Wend., 193); The People v. Stearne (21 ib., 409);
Any objection which would be fatal on demurrer, will be equally so on motion in arrest of the judgment after verdict. (Chitty, 662; People v. Wright, 9 Wend., 196.) The joinder of the two counts in this case for larceny, and for the receiving of stolen property, knowing it to be stolen, would not have been bad upon demurrer. In this State, the joinder of such counts I think has been ever allowed in a single indictment, and where an offense comprises different degrees, is expressly authorized by statute. (2 Rev. Stat., 751, § 51.)