McBoyle v. United States
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| McBoyle v. United States | |||||||||||||
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| Argued February 26 – 27, 1931 Decided March 9, 1931 |
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| Holding | |||||||||||||
| The court held that since the law did not specify aircraft, it did not apply to aircraft. | |||||||||||||
| Court membership | |||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Charles Evans Hughes Associate Justices: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Willis Van Devanter, James Clark McReynolds, Louis Brandeis, George Sutherland, Pierce Butler, Harlan Fiske Stone, Owen Josephus Roberts |
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| Case opinions | |||||||||||||
| Majority by: Holmes Joined by: unanimous |
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| Laws applied | |||||||||||||
| U.S. Const. | |||||||||||||
McBoyle v. United States, 283 U.S. 25 (1931), was a United States Supreme Court case.
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[edit] Background
McBoyle transported a plane that he knew to be stolen from Ottawa, Illinois to Guymon, Oklahoma.
[edit] Case
McBoyle was accused of violating the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act. The petitioners claimed that since the act did not specifically mention aircraft, it did not apply to aircraft.
[edit] Decision
The court held that since other acts referred to aircraft specifically, such as the Tarriff Act, that the law must be interpreted narrowly. Justice Holmes stated:
Although it is not likely that a criminal will carefully consider the text of the law before he murders or steals, it is reasonable that a fair warning should be given to the world in language that the common world will understand, of what the law intends to do if a certain line is passed. To make the warning fair, so far as possible the line should be clear.
This case is a good example of the canon of ejusdem generis ("of the same kind, class, or nature").
[edit] External links
- Full text from Buffalo Center for Law
