as was her duty, and on receiving it went off to Ireland, Mr. Justice COLERIDGE held that the circumstance of the prisoner having quitted her place, and gone off to Ireland, was evidence from which the jury might infer that she intended to embezzle the money she was found guilty.*

The act of embezzlement is complete, no matter when discovered, the moment the prisoner fraudulently detains the money from his employer, and dates back from that period, however distant: denial, or wilful omission of entries indicative of, the receipt; nonpayment at the proper time; absconding; are each and all merely evidence from which a jury may infer that he has been guilty of it.

And now I conceive I have made you acquainted with so much of the law relative to this offence, and its application, as will enable you, in ordinary cases, readily to determine who is a clerk or servant within the meaning of the statute: what constitutes a receipt in the course of his duty; and what acts amount to an embezzlement.

* Sarah Williams' Case, 7 C. and P. 338.

64

CHAPTER IV.

OF FRAUDS BY BANKERS, AGENTS, AND OTHERS ENTRUSTED WITH PROPERTY.

WE have now arrived at the consideration of a subject of very deep interest to every one possessed of property of his own, or entrusted with that of others. Strange to say, in a country like this, the fraudulent acts of bankers and others, in the character of trustees and agents, were not made the subject of penal legislation until a comparatively recent period. In the reign of George the Third a statute was passed affecting bankers so far as related to their fraudulent disposition of money or valuable securities entrusted to them for special purposes indicated in writing, but that statute was repealed and substituted by an amended and now existing enactment passed in the reign of George the Fourth. The punishment of persons coming under the denomination of factors or agents, entrusted with goods or merchandise for the purposes of sale, and who fraudulently and in violation of good faith convert such property, or the merchantable title thereto (such as warrants, bills of lading, &c.), to their own use, is provided for by another section of the same Act, and by a subsequent statute passed in the present reign, and called the "Factor's Act." The principal sections are of too much importance to be omitted, and therefore I subjoin them

at length in the form of a note.* I shall not take up your time by indicating the very many respects

* By the 7 and 8 G. 4, c. 29, § 49, it is enacted, that “if any money, or security for the payment of money, shall be intrusted to any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or other agent, with any direction in writing to apply such money, or any part thereof, or the proceeds, or any part of the proceeds of such security, for any purpose specified in such direction, and he shall, in violation of good faith, and contrary to the purpose so specified, in anywise convert to his own use or benefit such money, security, or proceeds, or any part thereof respectively, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years nor less than seven years, or to suffer such other punishment by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the court shall award; and if any chattel, or valuable security, or any power of attorney for the sale or transfer of 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, shall be intrusted to any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or other agent, for safe custody or for any special purpose, without any authority to sell, negotiate, transfer or pledge, and he shall, in violation of good faith, and contrary to the object or purpose for which such chattel, security, or power of attorney shall have been intrusted to him, sell, negotiate, transfer, pledge, or in any manner convert to his own use or benefit such chattel or security, or proceeds of the same, or any part thereof, or the share or interest in the stock or fund to which such power of attorney shall relate, or any part thereof, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable," &c.

The next section (50) provides for the due protection of the persons named in the preceding one, in the event of their dealing with the money or securities under certain circumstances: "nothing hereinbefore contained relating to agents shall affect any trustee in or under any instrument whatever, or any mortgagee of any property, real or personal, in respect of any act done by such trustee or mortgagee in relation to the property comprised

F

in which the former statute falls short of being a measure equal to the punishment of persons guilty of breaches of trust as gross and heartless, and oftentimes far more destructive of the comfort and happiness of families than the outrages of the highwayman or burglar. Suffice it to say this was so, and I fear these pages will meet the eyes of

in or affected by any such trust or mortgage; nor shall restrain any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or other agent, from receiving any money which shall be or become actually due and payable upon or by virtue of any valuable security, according to the tenor and effect thereof, in such manner as he might have done if this Act had not been passed; nor from selling, transferring, or otherwise disposing of any securities or effects in his possession, upon which he shall have any lien, claim, or demand, entitling him by law so to do, unless such sale, transfer, or other disposal, shall extend to a greater number or part of such securities and effects than shall be requisite for satisfying such lien, claim, or demand.”

Sect. 51 has special reference to factors and agents entrusted with goods or merchandize for sale: "if any factor or agent intrusted, for the purpose of sale, with any goods or merchandize, or intrusted with any bill of lading, warehousekeeper's or wharfinger's certificate, or warrant or order for delivery of goods or merchandize, shall, for his own benefit, and in violation of good faith, deposit or pledge any such goods or merchandize, or any of the said documents, as a security for any money or negotiable instrument borrowed or received by such factor or agent, at or before the time of making such deposit or pledge, or intended to be thereafter borrowed or received, every such offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen years nor less than seven years, or to suffer such other punishment by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the court shall award; but no such factor or agent shall be liable to any prosecution for depositing or pledging any such goods or merchandize, or any of the said documents, in case the same

but very few who cannot recall such instances to personal recollection. The "Fraudulent Trustees' Act," scarcely yet a year old, will be found, I believe, adequate to reach almost every species of delinquency in the shape of fraudulent breaches of trust. In fact, so comprehensive are its pro

shall not be made a security for or subject to the payment of any greater sum of money than the amount which, at the time of such deposit or pledge, was justly due and owing to such factor or agent from his principal, together with the amount of any bill or bills of exchange drawn by or on account of such principal, and accepted by such factor or agent."

This statute was amended by a subsequent one (5 and 6 Vict. c. 39, § 6), by which it is enacted: "if any agent entrusted as aforesaid [with the possession of goods, or of the documents of title thereto] shall, contrary to or without the authority of his principal in that behalf, for his own benefit, and in violation of good faith, make any consignment, deposit, transfer, or delivery of any goods or documents of title so entrusted to him as aforesaid, as or by way of a pledge, lien, or security; or shall, contrary to, or without such authority, for his own benefit, and in violation of good faith, accept any advance on the faith of any contract or agreement, to consign, deposit, transfer, or deliver such goods or documents of title as aforesaid, every such agent shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be sentenced to transportation for any term not exceeding fourteen years, nor less than seven years, or to suffer such other punishment, by fine or imprisonment, or by both, as the court shall award; and every clerk or other person who shall knowingly and wilfully act and assist in making any such consignment, deposit, transfer, or delivery, or in accepting or procuring such advance as aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to any of the punishments which the court shall award as hereinbefore last mentioned: provided, nevertheless”—here follows a proviso for the protection of agents, substantially the same as that to § 51, 7 and 8 Geo. 4, c. 29.-See page 66.