United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932)

Blockburger v. United States

No. 374

Argued November 24, 1931

Decided January 4, 1932

284 U.S. 299

Syllabus

1. Two sales of morphine not in or from the original stamped package, the second having been initiated after the first was complete, held separate and distinct offenses under § 1 of the Narcotics Act, although buyer and seller were the same in both cases and but little time elapsed between the end of the one transaction and the beginning of the other. P. 284 U. S. 301.

2. Section 1 of the Narcotics Act, forbidding sale except in or from the original stamped package, and § 2, forbidding sale not in pursuance of a written order of the person to whom the drug is sold, create two distinct offenses, and both are committed by a single

Page 284 U. S. 300

sale not in or from the original stamped package and without a written order. P. 284 U. S. 303.

3. Where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not. P. 284 U. S. 304.

4. The penal section of the Act, "any person who violates or fails to comply with any of the requirements of this act" shall be punished, etc., means that each offense is subject to the penalty prescribed. P. 284 U. S. 305.

Certiorari, post, p. 607, to review a judgment affirming a sentence under the Narcotics Act.