18 CHAPTER II. OF LARCENY, OR THEFT.—WHAT PROPERTY MAY BE THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN STEALING AND CHEATING.- Ir your property be taken feloniously, you are very likely to say, "I have been robbed." Substantially this is so; but that the application of the term robbery is correct depends entirely upon circumstances. "Robbery" is a word applied indiscriminately and erroneously to every unlawful abstraction of property.* A highwayman knocks you down and rifles your pockets; a clever thief, without your knowledge, abstracts your watch; a person breaks open your house in the night, or enters your premises in the daytime, and in either case takes your goods; a cunning fellow by some clever trick obtains the mere possession of your property, and makes off with it; your clerk or servant, having the lawful possession of your goods, wrongfully appropriates them to his own use: in each case you would most probably say, "I have been robbed." a popular view of the matter, the correct enough. But not so legally case the offence is, in law, highway robbery, and No doubt, in expression is in the first * Legally defined to be a "felonious taking of property from the person of another (or in his presence against his will) by violence or putting him in fear." East P.C. 707. punishable with transportation or penal servitude; in the second, it is larceny from the person, and not punishable so severely as robbery; the third is what the law terms burglary, and being a very serious offence,-entering one's house in the night,is punishable with very great severity-a few years ago with death. The fourth is called larceny from the dwelling-house; the fifth is simple larceny; and the last is termed larceny by a servant; each being punishable by penal servitude, or imprisonment with hard labour, in the discretion of the judge. So you see that the term robbery is applicable, in legal strictness, only where you are put in bodily fear, and your property taken from your person by violence, or in your presence against your will. It is not my intention to dwell upon these offences, further than is necessary to prepare your mind for the consideration of that which is more likely to concern you, and which will form the subject of subsequent chapters; and, at the same time, afford you such general knowledge as must be acceptable to every one desirous to be well informed on ordinary matters. As the foundation of our inquiries, larceny, or theft, claims our special consideration: let us first ascertain WHAT PROPERTY MAY BE THE SUBJECT OF THEFT. The above heading may startle you. Under the very natural impression that almost everything, except houses, land, air, and water, may be wrongfully taken and carried away, you probably ask yourself, "What else is not the subject of theft?" Thanks to modern legislation, the criminal law now reaches almost every fraudulent misappropriation by one person of the moveable property of another, of what kind soever. The only important exceptions still being in respect of animals that are wild by nature, and unreclaimed, and in which there is no property, such as deer, hares, or conies in a forest, chase, or warren, fish in an open river or pond, or wild fowl at their natural liberty. But it was not so in the days of our forefathers: and although my special design is to lay before you only such information as may be of practical utility, yet where the history of the course of legislation on a particular subject is replete with interest even to the popular reader, as I conceive it is here, I shall give you a very short sketch of it, even at the risk of trespassing on my prescribed space. According to the old, or common law, as it is termed, by which is meant the law as it existed in the early ages, and exists still, as distinguished from statute law, or that created by Acts of Parliament, personal goods only were the subject of larceny; nothing, therefore, which was annexed, or adhering to, the land could be made the subject of theft. Thus, if a man cut down trees, or plucked fruit, or pulled down the bricks or stones of buildings or bridges, or the fixtures of a house, or coals, minerals in the earth, &c., and instantly carried them away, he could not have been convicted of stealing; because such property is part and parcel of the freehold; but if once severed, and allowed to lie on the ground for some period of time, before being carried away, they then became personal goods, and the subsequent wrongful carrying away was larceny. So strict was the law relating to land (or the realty, as it is called in law), that it was held that larceny could not be committed of the title-deeds to the land, or even of the box in which they were contained ! So, written documents, such as bonds, bills of exchange, promissory notes, &c., were not, as such, the subject of theft, on the supposed ground that, as they were mere evidences of debt, they were of no intrinsic value: neither was the wrongful taking of a corpse, on the principle that it is not and cannot be the property of any one, and of course no statute could make such an act, however revolting, larceny, because the very essence of larceny is the taking of property; but to disinter and wrongfully remove a dead body for corrupt purposes is a misdemeanor of a high class, and punishable by imprisonment or fine. With regard to the wrongful taking of property annexed to land, as trees, fruit, minerals, fixtures, and also deeds, bills, bonds, wills, and other written instruments, and animals originally wild by nature, but reclaimed, the Legislature from time to time passed statutes, most of which were consolidated by the late Sir Robert Peel into one, making all these acts felonies or misdemeanors, according to their respective gravity.* In the next place, you should understand the * By 7 and 8 Geo. 4, c. 29, sec. 38, it is enacted, “that if any person shall steal [or shall cut, break, root up, or otherwise destroy or damage, with intent to steal], the whole or any part of any tree, sapling, or shrub, or any underwood, respectively growing in any park, pleasure-ground, garden, orchard, or avenue, or in any ground adjoining or belonging to any dwelling-house, every such offender (in case the value of the article or articles stolen, or the amount of the injury done, shall exceed the sum of one pound), shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof meaning of the legal word "LARCENY." It would be out of place here to discuss its derivation. Some refer it to the French larcin, theft, others to the Latin latro, a thief, and latrocinium; but it is clear that the latter reference can be well founded only upon the ground that the original term latrociny, shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as in the case of simple larceny," &c. For taking, or cutting with intent to steal, trees, &c., under the value of one pound, the offender may be summarily punished by a magistrate. By sec. 44. "If any person shall steal [or rip, or cut, or break, with intent to steal] any glass, or woodwork, belonging to any building whatsoever, or any lead, iron, copper, brass, or other metal, or any utensil or fixture, whether made of metal, or other material, respectively fixed in, or to any building whatsoever, or anything made of metal, fixed in any land, being private property, or for a fence to any dwelling-house, garden, or area, or in any square, street, or other place dedicated to public use or ornament, every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be punished in the same manner as in the case of simple larceny. By sec. 4. "If any person shall steal any tally, order, or other security whatsoever, entitling or evidencing the title of any person or body corporate to any share or interest in any public stock or fund, whether of this kingdom, or of Great Britain or of Ireland, or of any foreign state, or in any fund of any body corporate, company, or society, or to any deposit in any savings bank, or shall steal any debenture, deed, bond, bill, note, warrant, order, or other security whatsoever for money, or for payment of money, whether of this kingdom or of any foreign state, or shall steal any warrant or order for the delivery or transfer of any goods or valuable thing, every such offender shall be deemed guilty of felony," &c. By sec. 37, stealing coal, ore, minerals, &c., from mines, is made felony. By sec. 22. "If any person shall, either during the life of the testator or testatrix, or after his or her death, steal, or, for any fraudulent purpose, destroy or conceal, any will, codicil, or other |