United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Johnson, 323 U.S. 273 (1944)

United States v. Johnson

No. 43

Argued November 8, 1944

Decided December 18, 1944

323 U.S. 273

Syllabus

1. A prosecution for using the mails for sending dentures in violation of the Federal Denture Act -- which Act contains no specific provision relative to the venue of prosecutions thereunder -- cannot be had in the district to which the dentures were sent, but only in the district from which they were sent. P. 323 U. S. 277.

2. Such construction of the Federal Denture Act, though not required by the compulsions of Article III, § 2 of the Constitution and of the Sixth Amendment, is more consonant with the considerations of historic experience and policy which underlie those safeguard in the Constitution regarding the trial of crimes. P. 323 U. S. 275.

3. Questions of venue in criminal cases are not merely matters of formal legal procedure; they raise deep issues of public policy in the light of which legislation must be construed. P. 323 U. S. 276.

4. Armour Packing Co. v. United States, 209 U. S. 56, distinguished. P. 323 U. S. 276.

53 F.Supp. 596 affirmed.

Appeal under the Criminal Appeals Act from a judgment quashing an information for violation of the Federal Denture Act.