EMBEZZLEMENT (0, Fr. besiler, to rifle, lay waste) is the fraudulent appropriation, as by a clerk, public officer, agent or other per son of property entrusted to him. It must not be confounded with larceny, which is the wrongful taking and carrying away of the sonal property of another, with the felonious intent of converting such property to one's own use without the consent of the owner. This implies a trespass, which does not ex ist in embezzlement. By common law, embez zlement was not a crime, but it has been uni versally made so by statute both in the United States and Great Britain. The earliest statute recognizing the offense was that of Henry VIII, c. 7 (1529). This act was passed with the ob ject of remedying an admitted defect in the existent criminal law, by which persons who had fraudulently appropriated goods or money, coming into their possession legally, escaped all punishment, although their moral guilt was great. they could not be convicted of larceny, as their offense lacked some of the essential elements of that crime. The above named statute, however, restricted the offense to servants and in 1799 another statute was passed extending it to include clerks. This act, not proving completely satisfactory, the Lar ceny Act, passed in England in 1901, which amended sections 75 and 76 of the Larceny Act of 1861, further extended the offense to include trustees, directors of companies and others. This act makes the offense a misdemeanor and provides that the punishment therefor shall be penal servitude for a term not exceeding seven years, or imprisonment, with or without bard labor, for a term not exceeding two years. In
Scotland certain designated courts have mher ent jurisdiction to punish all offenses, even when not declared to be crimes by statute, with the result that no legislation on the subject has been found necessary in that country.
Most of the statutes in the United States are based on the English act of 1799, but are much broader in their scope. In this country em bezzlement is a misdemeanor or a felony, de pending usually on the value of the property appropriated, although in some States embez zlement by an officer of a corporation or embez zlement of certain animals is a felony irrespec tive of the value of the property converted. Statutes often define embezzlement and men tion is frequently found therein of the persons who may be guilty of the crime, as adminis trators, guardians, trustees, public officers, servants, agents and others who occupy fidu ciary relations. It is essential to constitute the crime that the person charged therewith should have come into possession of the property by virtue of his employment and that he intention ally violated some confidence. There must also be a critninal intent to appropriate the property of another. Thus one holding property which is legally in his possession in the honest though misftken belief .that he owns it cannot be con victed of the cnme. In some States, as Massa chusetts and New York, embezzlement is in cluded in the offense of larceny. The punish ment differs in the various States, usually being imprisonment for a term varying from 2 to 10 years.