Hutchins v. State

59 S.E. 848, 3 Ga. App. 300, 1907 Ga. App. LEXIS 629
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 20, 1907
Docket808
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 59 S.E. 848 (Hutchins v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hutchins v. State, 59 S.E. 848, 3 Ga. App. 300, 1907 Ga. App. LEXIS 629 (Ga. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

Russell, J.

The defendant was convicted of burglary, and excepts to the judgment of the court overruling his motion for new -trial. The evidence may show that the defendant stole two bushels of corn, but does not show that he is guilty of the offense of bur-glary.

The special exceptions to the judge’s charge, contained in the • amended motion for new trial, are also involved in the demurrer [301]*301to the indictment, and in the general ground that the verdict is-contrary to the evidence; so that' we shall consider the questions raised in the record, first, by determining whether the verdict of" guilty is authorized under the allegations of the indictment or by the evidence. “Burglary,” as defined in Cobb’s Digest, p. 790. “is the breaking and entering into the dwelling or mansion-house of another, with intent to commit a felony. All outhouses contiguous to and within the curtilage or protection of the mansion-house shall be considered as parts of the mansion or dwelling-house- • — -a hired room or apartments in a'public tavern, inn, or boardinghouse, shall be considered as the dwelling-house of the person or persons occupying and hiring the same.” By the act of 1866 (Acts, pp. 151, 153), the statute was amended. By these amendments houses other than the dwelling were added and became thesubjeet-matter of burglary. These, however, were limited to storehouses or other places of business where valuable goods, wares, products, or any other articles of value were contained or stored. By these amendments the statute was brought to its present proportions, as it appears in the Penal Code, §149. A specific objection to the indictment, raised by the demurrer and preserved by the 'exceptions pendente lite, is that the indictment charged the defendant with breaking and entering a barn within the curtilage and protection of the dwelling-house, contiguous to the same, the same-being an outhouse, and stole the corn from said barn, when it should have charged that the burglary was done in the dwelling-house itself or should have alleged that the barn was part of the dwelling-house. It is well settled by a number of cases that where-a party is indicted for breaking or entering an outhouse within thecurtilage or protection of a mansion or dwelling, the burglary may be laid as having been done in the dwelling-house. See Daniels v. State, 78 Ga. 101 (6 Am. St. R. 338). But this method is not exclusive. It must be remembered that burglary was originally an offense against the habitation of the citizen. Burglary may be committed, in the terms of the statute, where there is no intention to steal. A breaking followed by a proved theft establishes the intention of that particular breaking; but if nothing were stolen, it would not follow that a burglary had not been committed. The offense, then, being originally one against the habitation of the-citizen, the effect of the amendment of 1866 was to engraft upon [302]*302the common-law offense a statutory amendment by which burglary could be committed with the intent to commit larceny; whereas, before, the breaking was burglary when the intent was to commit a felony; and a new class of houses was added where previously only the dwelling or mansion was the subject-matter of burglary. The original definition in Cobb’s Digest followed the common law, and the language in reference to outhouses contiguous to or within the curtilage, as well as the provision in regard to the hired room, were adaptations' of decisions construing the common-law definition. "When more kinds of houses were added by the statute, there resulted a modification of the rule of pleading as to burglarjr, so as to bring the necessary and proper allegation of an indictment for burglary within the purview of the more general provisions of the Penal Code, §929. The indictment is sufficiently technical, if in the words of the statute, thus rendering inapplicable the rule laid down by Wharton (Whart. Cr. L. §815), that “Where burglary is in any outhouse, which, by law, is considered part of the dwelling-house, it must still be laid to be done in the dwelling-house.”

2. Another ground of the demurrer is that the indictment charged both burglary and larceny from the house. There was no error in overruling this demurrer. The indictment does not join the charge of burglary in a count with larceny from the house; it alleges larceny from the-house as an incident of the burglary. It is permissible either to charge a burglary and larceny in the same count or to add a count for larceny from the house to an indictment for burglary. The provision with reference to larceny was one of the additions made by the act of 1866.

3. We do not think the evidence was sufficient to authorize a conviction of the defendant of the offense of burglary. The evidence did not show the house to be a dwelling-house or a part of the dwelling-house, or contiguous to the dwelling-house, or within the cutilage or protection of the dwelling-house. All that the evidence circumstantially showed was, that the defendant broke open a corn-crib and stole a little more than a bushel of corn. A corn-crib, unless it be within the curtilage, is not the subject-matter of burglary. The breaking and entering of such a house is larceny from the house. It is only when the corn-crib is part of the dwelling-house under the common law, or when, as explained by our statute, it becomes an outhouse contiguous to or within the cur[303]*303tilage or protection of the mansion or dwelling-house, that a barn or corn-crib can become subject-matter of burglary. In Bearden v. State, 95 Ga. 459, 20 S. E. 212 (which we find, upon examination of the original record, was a case very similar to the ease at bar), it was held that “Where the house broken and entered was not a dwelling nor within the curtilage, and was neither alleged nor proved to be a place of business, but was in fact a corn-crib or barn in which corn was stored, there was no burglary. The offense proved was larceny from the house only.” In the Bearden case there was direct evidence of the breaking and theft, while in the present case the evidence was circumstantial. In the Bearden case one hundred bushels of corn were alleged to have been taken; in the present case the indictment alleges two bushels. The evidence in this case shows that the barn is about fifty yards from the dwcllhouse of the prosecutor, and the yard of the prosecutor is not enclosed. The barn and corn-crib is enclosed in a separate enclosure by a high plank fence which is not connected in any way with the dwelling-house. The barn, therefore, according to the evidence, relies for its protection, not upon the enclosure marking the curtilage of the dwelling-house, but upon a distinct enclosure of its own. “Curtilage,” as defined by Burrill in his Law Dictionary, '“is a yard, court-yard or piece of ground lying around or near to a dwelling-house included within the same fence.” State v. Taylor, 45 Me. 322. “Curtilage, in law, means a fence or enclosure of a small piece of land around a dwelling-house, usually including the buildings occupied in connection with the house, which enclosure may consist wholly of a fence, or partly of a fence and partly of the exterior side of buildings so within the enclosure.” Commonwealth v. Barney, 64 Mass. 482; Commonwealth v. Intoxicating Liquors, 140 Mass. 287 (3 N. E. 4). “Curtilage means the yard or court for the protection and security of the mansion-house; an enclosure belonging to the dwelling-house. When used in a penal statute, it must be construed according to the -strict signification of the term.” State v. Shaw, 31 Me. 523, 525.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Moon v. State
169 S.E.2d 632 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1969)
Chester v. State
140 S.E.2d 52 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1964)
Coleman v. State
7 S.E.2d 212 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1940)
United States v. Kaplan
286 F. 963 (S.D. Georgia, 1923)
Brooke v. Cartersville Chero-Cola Bottling Co.
99 S.E. 150 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1919)
Jones v. State
78 S.E. 474 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1913)
Wright v. State
77 S.E. 657 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1913)
Haines v. State
70 S.E. 84 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1911)
Hutchings v. State
61 S.E. 837 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1908)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 S.E. 848, 3 Ga. App. 300, 1907 Ga. App. LEXIS 629, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hutchins-v-state-gactapp-1907.