Larceny

Larceny in United Kingdom

Meaning of Larceny

The following is an old definition of Larceny [1]: Theft; the felonious taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another. The wrongful or fraudulent taking and carrying away by any person of the mere personal goods of another, from any place, with the felonious intent to convert them to his (the taker’s) own use, and make them his property, without the consent of the owner. A taking and a carrying away of personal property with an intent to steal it. Larcenist. One guilty of larceny. Larcenous. Of the nature of larceny. Grand larceny. Larceny of goods above the value of twelve pence. Mixed or compound larceny. Includes the aggravation of a taking from one’s house or person. Petit latceny. When the goods are of the value of twelve pence or under. Simple larceny. Plain theft, unaccompanied by any other atrocious circumstance. ” Petit larceny ” having ceased to exist in England by 7 and 8 Geo. IV. (1827), o. 29; and largely in the United States, the single word “larceny” means ” grand larceny,” not of the compound sort. Further, having no ” simple larceny,” we have no, use’ for the correlative ” grand.” Larceny is an offense against the right of private property. The ” taking ” implies a want of consent in the owner: therefore, a delivery to another upon trust cannot become the ground of a larceny at common law. But if the bailee opens a package and takes away a part he is guilty of larceny; for then the animo furandi is manifest. Nor was it, at common law, more than a breach of trust for a servant to run away with goods committed to him. See Embezzlement. There must be a ” carrying away ” – some removal from the place where the goods are found. See Carry Away. The intent must be ” felonious ” – animo furandi, taking to use and return is a mere trespass. The property must be ” personalty.” At common law, taking a tree, flowers, fruit, or title-deeds is a trespass upon the land. But it any such object was severed by the owner, or by the thief at another time, that act made it personalty. Statutes have made felonious, appropriations of many such articles as, formerly, constituted trespasses.Formerly, also, bonds, bills, notes, and otber evidences of debt, having no intrinsic value and not importing property in the possession of the holder, were not subjects ot larceny. ” Property ” includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. Nor, at common law, are animals, at their natural liberty and unreclaimed, which are unfit for food, as, dogs; for these a civil action for damages may be had. Obtaining possession of personalty by fraud, with Intent to convert the same to one’s own use, the owner intending to part with the possession only, is larceny. See Crime; Decoy; Indictment; Lucrum; Pretenses, False; Robbery.

Resources

Notes and References

  1. Concept of Larceny provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)

Posted

in

,

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *