''Commonwealth v. O'Malley'', 97 Mass. 584 (1867), was a case decided by the

Supreme Court of Massachusetts The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...

that overturned a conviction for embezzlement because the evidence supported a case for

larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...

, even though the defendant had previously been

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

of larceny. The case illustrates the problem of gaps in similar

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

offenses with technical differences, and this problem was later addressed by consolidation of the common law offenses in things like the

Model Penal Code The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a model act designed to stimulate and assist U.S. state legislatures to update and standardize the penal law of the United States.MPC (Foreword). The MPC was a project of the American Law Institute (ALI), and was pu ...

.Bonnie, R.J. et al. ''Criminal Law, Second Edition.'' Foundation Press, New York, NY: 2004, p. 271

References

U.S. state criminal case law 1867 in United States case law Massachusetts state case law 1867 in Massachusetts Law articles needing an infobox {{US-case-law-stub