73 Wis. 251 | Wis. | 1888
There is no bill of exceptions. This being so, we are necessarily limited to the inquiry whether the complaint, of which the substance is stated above, charges the accused with the offense of selling intoxicating liquors without a license, under the statutes. Secs. 1, 4, ch. 296, Law’s of 1885.
The statute merely requires an information to charge the offense with such degree of certainty that the court may pronounce judgment upon a conviction according to the right of the case. Sec. 4658, R. S.; Hintz v. State, 58 Wis. 497; State v. Boncher, 59 Wis. 481. Ho judgment is to be reversed by reason of any defect or imperfection in matters of form which do not tend to the prejudice of the accused. Sec. 4659, R. S. Even in England, where the forms of criminal procedure are far more stringently enforced than here, it has been held, in effect, that an indictment so defective that it would have been quashed upon application before verdict, may nevertheless be cured after verdict. Queen v. Stroulger, 17 Q. B. Div. 327. The' complaint in question was certainly good after verdict. The absence of any bill of exceptions is a confession that all the allegations of the complaint were sustained by the evidence. If the accused was in fact authorized to do what he did by virtue of any license, then it should have been made to appear by bill of exceptions.
Error is assigned because the bond given on appeal from the justice was in the form used in civil cases, and not, as required by secs. 4714, 4717, R. S. But the accused could appeal, and the circuit court take jurisdiction, without any bond. His liability would be the same in any event. Ho supposed grievances of the surety alone can be considered on this writ of error by the accused alone. If the surety
By the Court.— The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.