Isaacs v. Maryland

Weisel, J., delivered the opinion of this Court: The plaintiff in error, convicted of larceny, in the Criminal Court of Baltimore city, complains of the sentence or judgment of that Court, pronounced upon him, as erroneous and unauthorized by the law of Maryland, in two particulars, and seeks its reversal, and his discharge from the Penitentiary. He was convicted and sentenced in October 1863. The sentence of the Court was, “that the said William Isaacs do undergo a confinement in the Penitentiary for the period of twelve years, and that he serve and labor for the ⁴¹⁴ said period according to the Act of Assembly, in such case made and provided. ’ ’ We will „ examine these two grounds of error assigned. The first is: that the sentence is, that he serve and labor in the Penitentiary for twelve years; whereas, the only authorized sentence is, that he he “confined to the Penitentiary,” and that the award of service and labor there for that period was illegal, and that it renders the sentence void.

The Code, in Article 30, on Crimes and Punishments, section 98, prescribes no form of sentence in larceny. It simply declares in these words: “Every person convicted of the crime of simple larceny, to the value of five dollars and upwards, or as accessory thereto before the fact, shall restore the money, goods or thing taken to the owner, or shall j)ay to him the full value thereof, and he sentenced to the penitentiary for not less than one year, nor more than fifteen years.” This is very general language; not even the word confinement, used in this and probably every sentence of the kind, being found in it; and yet used in this sentence and all others of the kind without objection. The Code elsewhere provides for the mode°of enforcing obedience to the sentence, or inflicting the punishment, and the objection here taken, rests on the simple ground that this can legally form no part of the judgment of the Court. It is certainly not a necessary part of it; and we unite in commending the example of the late venerated Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, when pronouncing sentences upon convicts, of always having the Act inflicting the punishment before him, and framing the sentence, as near as could be, in the words of the Act. “This,” observes a learned Judge, “is worthy of imitation, and, if strictly observed, would save the Court some trouble, besides contributing 'to a more satisfactory administration of justice.” 7 Barr., 374.

But we agree with most of the reasoning of Chief Justice GrREEN, in the case of Dodge vs. The State, 4 Zab. (N. J.) Rep., 464, 467, on this subject. Where the statute prescribes the mode of punishment, and the sentence conforms with the ⁴¹⁵ provisions of tlie law, and tbo penalty is in no wise varied by tbe phraseology of the sentence, the introduction of that mode into it, is no ground of error. Our Code, in its Article 13, on the Penitentiary, provides for the admission of convicts into the Penitentiary, and at section 31 enacts, that “they shall be put to hard labor every day in the year, except Sunday and Christmas day, and when Christmas day falls on Sunday, then the next Monday is excepted, and their time so employed as will be most advantageous.” The following sections provide other modes of treatment conducive to their discipline and conduct.

The sentence in this case, by the words objected to, cannot, unless by a most forced construction, bo considered as varying the mode of punishment which the law prescribes in cases of larceny.,, The convict was adjudged to undergo confinement in the penitentiary for twelve years, there to serve and labor for that period, according to- the Act of Assembly, in such case made, and provided; in other words, there to undergo the labor and treatment which the law provides. This does not add anything to the punishment inflicted by law, or in anywise affect the rights of the convict. It is simply declaratory of what will be done with him when admitted within the walls of the Penitentiary, under the law, in all its parts, under which he is sentenced. For we do not understand or so construe the language used in this sentence as restrictive upon the Legislative power, or as so fixing the punishment as not to conform it to any future law modifying it or mitigating the disciplinary regulations of the Penitentiary.

In the case in New Jersey, referred to, the sentence was for perjury, and the statute provided that every person convicted of that offence, should be punished by fine or imprisonment at hard labor, or both, at the discretion of the Court; and this, it was contended, was the peculiar punishment inflicted for the offence, and the Court could add nothing to the sentence.