LARCENY. In Criminal Law. The wrongful and fraudulent taking arid carry ing away by one person of the mere per sonal goods of another from any place, with a felonious intent to convert them to his the taker's use, and make them his property without the consent of the owner. 2 East, Pl. Cr. 553 ; 4 Wash. C. C. 700.
In a recent English case, Mr. Baron Parke said that this definition, which was the most complete of any, was defective, in not stating what is the meaning of the word "felonious," which, he said, "may be explained to mean that there is no color of right or excuse for the act; and the 'intent' must he to deprive the owner, not temporarily, but permanently, of his property." Regina vs. Hollo way, 2 Carr. & K. 942; 1 Den. Cr. Cas. 370; Tempi. 85 M. Cr. Cas. 40. It is safer to be guided by the cases than by the definitions given by text-writers. Per Coltman J. Several definitions are collected by Mr. Bish'op, 2 Crim. Law, 675, n., to whioh reference is made.
Larceny was formerly in England, and still is, perhaps, in some states, divided into grand and petit or petty larceny, according as the value of tho property taken was great or small. 2 East, Pl. Cr. 736; 3 M'Cord, So. C. 187; 3 Hill, N. Y. 395; 6 id. 144; 1 Hawke, No. C. 463; 8 Blackf. Ind. 498. Yet in England this distinetion is now abolished, by 7 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, 2 ; and the same is true of many of the United States, although in sorne a dif ference is made, similar in theory, between eases where the amount stolen is more and where it is less than one hundred iollars or some fixed sum.
Compound larceny is larceny under circum stances which, in view of the law, aggravate the crime. Thelaw in relation to this branch of larceny is to a great extent statutory.
2. The property of the owner may be either general, 1 Carr. & K. 518 ; 2 Den. Cr. Cas. 449, or special. 10 Wend. N. Y. 165 ; 14 Mass. 217 ; 13 Ala. N. s. 153 ; 21 Me. 14 ; 8 Tex. 115 ; 4 Harr. Del. 570 ; 6 Hill, N. Y. 144 ; 9 Carr. & P. 44.
There must be a taking against the consent of the owner, 8 Carr. & P. 291; 9 id. 365 ; 1 Den. Cr. Cas. 381; 2 Ov. Tenn. 68; 9 Yerg. Tenn. 198 ; 6 id. 154 ; 20 Ala. N. s. 428 ; 1 Rich. So. C. 30 ; 2 Nott & M'C. So. C. 174 ; Coxe, N. J. 439 ; and the taking will not he larceny if consent be given, though obtained by fraud. 15 Serg. & R. Penn. 93 ; 9 Carr. & P. 741; 4 Taunt. 258 ; 7 Cox, Cr. Cas. 289. When the possession of an article is intrusted to a person, who carries it away and appro priates it, this is no larceny, 24 Eng. L. &
Eq. 562 ; 4 Carr. & P. 545 ; 5 id. 533 ; 1 Pick. Mass. 375 ; 20 Ala. N. s. 428 ; 17 N. Y. 114 ; see 2 M'Mull. So. C. 382 ; 2 Carr. & K. 983 ; 4 Mo. 461 ; 33 Me. 127 ; 11 Cush. Mass. 483 ; 13 Gratt. Va. 803 ; 11 Tex. 769 ; but when the custody merely is parted with, such misappropriation is a larceny. 6 T. B. Monr. Ky. 130 ; 1 Den. N. Y. 120 ; 11 Q. B. 929 ; 1 Den. Cr. Cas. 584.
3. The taking must be in the county where the criminal is to be tried. 9 Carr. & P. 29; Ry. & M. 349. But when the taking has been in the county or state, and the thief ia caught with the stolen property in another county than tbat where the theft was com mitted, he may be tried in the county where arrested with the goods ; as, by construction of law, there is a freah taking in every county in which the thief carriea the stolen property. 7 Mete. Mass. 175. Wbether an indictment for larceny can be supported where the goods are proved to have been originally atolen in another state, and brought thence into the state where the indictment is found, is a point on which the decisions are contradictory. Property stolen in one of the British Provinces and brought by the thief into Massachusetts is not larceny there. 3 Gray Masa. 434. See, contra, 11 Vt. 650.
4. There must be an actual removal of the article, 1 Leach, Cr. Cas. 4th ed. 236, n., 320 ; 3 Greenleaf, Ev. 154 ; 7 Carr. & P. 552 ; 8 id. 291; 8 Ala. N. s. 328; 12 Ired. No. C. 157; 9 Yerg. Tenn. 198 ; but a very slight removal, if it amount to an actual taking into posses sion, is sufficient. 2 East, Pl. Cr. 556, 617 ; 1 Carr. & K. 245 ; Dearsl. Cr. Cas. 421.
The property must be personal; and there can be no larceny of things affixed to the soil, 1 Hale, Pl. Cr, 510 ; 11 Ired. No. C. 477 ; 8 Carr. & P. 293 ; but if once severed by the owner, a third person, or the thief himself, as a separate transaction, it becomes a sub ject of larceny. 11 lred. No. C. 70 ; 3 Hill, N. Y. 395; 1 Mod. 89 ; 2 Rolle, 89; 7 Taunt. 188. It must be of some value, though but slight. 4 Rich. So. C. 356; 3 Harr. Del. 563 ; 7 Mete. Mass. 475. See 8 Penn. St. 260; 6 Johns. N. Y. 103 ; 9 Carr. & P. 347.
See Hale, Hawkina, Pleas of the Crown ; Biahop, Gabbett, Russell, Criminal Law ; Roscoe, Criminal Evidence.