BREACH OF TRUST. The wilful misap propriation, by a trustee, of a thing which had been lawfully delivered to him in confi dence.
The distinction between larceny and a breach of trust is to be found chiefly in the terms or way in which the thing was taken originally into the party's possession ; and the rule seems to be, that when ever the article is obtained upon a fair contract not for a mere temporary purpose, or by one who is in the employment of the deliverer, then the subse quent misappropriation is to be considered as an act of breach of trust. This rule is, however, subject to many nice distinctions. Lewer v. Cam., 6 S. & R. (Pa.) 93, 97. It has been adjudged that when the owner of goods parts with the possession for a par ticular purpose, and the person who receives them avowedly for that purpose has at the time a fraud ulent intention to make use of the possession as a means of converting the goods to his own use, and does so convert them, it is larceny ; but if the own er part with the property, although fraudulent means have been used to obtain it, the act of con version is not larceny ; Alison, Princ. c. 12, p. 354. , In the Year Book 21 Hen. VII. 14, the distinction
is thus stated:—"Pigot. If I deliver a jewel or money to my servant to keep, and he flees or goes from me with the jewel, is it felony? Cutler said, Yes: for so long as he is with me or in my house, that which I have delivered to him is adjudged to be in my possession ; as my butler, who has my plate in keeping, if he flees with it, It is felony. Same law, if he who keeps•my horse goes away with I him. The reasou is, they are always in my posses sion. But if I deliver a horse to my servant to ride to market or the fair, and he flee with him, it is no felony; for he comes lawfully to the possession of the horse by delivery. And so it is if I give him a jewel to carry to London, or to pay one, or to buy a thing, and he flee with it, it is not felony ; for it is out of my possession, and he comes lawfully to it. Pigot. It can well be ; for the master in these cases has an action against him, viz.: Detinue, or Ac count." See this point fully discussed in Stanford, P1. Cr. lib. 1. See also Year B. Edw. IV. fol. 9; 52 Hen. III. 7; 21 Hen. VII. 15. See BREAKING BULK.