Jones v. State

70 Ohio St. (N.S.) 36
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided April 12, 1904·No. No. 4908·Published

Opinion

Summers, J.

The plaintiff in error was indicted by tbe grand jury of Stark county for burning a building, Ms own property, with intent to prejudice tbe insurer. Tbe crime was described in tbe indictment in tbe following language: “Did unlawfully, wilfully, and maliciously burn a certain building, to-wit: A building used as a storehouse by Robert Legg, of tbe value of more than fifty dollars, tbe property of tbe said Edwin Jones and Mary Jones, with intent in so doing to prejudice, damage, and defraud Tbe Cernían Pire Insurance Co., of tbe city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, tbe insurer of said property, which said building used as a storehouse [37] by said Eobert Legg, tbe property of said Edwin Jones and Mary Jones, was then and there insured against loss or damage by fire unto tbe said Edwin Jones and Mary Jones in tbe sum of $1,000 by tbe said Tbe German Fire Insurance Co. of tbe city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, by a contract and policy of insurance duly executed by and between tbe said Tbe German Fire Insurance Co. of tbe city of Pitts-burg, Pennsylvania, and tbe said Edwin Jones and Mary Jones therefor.” Tbe statute, section 6832, Eevised Statutes, is as follows: “Whoever maliciously burns or sets fire to any dwelling bouse, kitchen, smokehouse, shop, office, barn, stable, storehouse, warehouse, stillhouse, mill, pottery, or any other building, of tbe value of fifty dollars, or any goods, wares, merchandise, or other chattels, of tbe value of fifty dollars, tbe same being bis own property, and insured against loss or damage by fire, with intent to prejudice tbe insurer, shall be imprisoned in tbe penitentiary not more than twenty years.” A motion to quash and a general demurrer were filed and overruled. The- defendant entered a plea of guilty and then filed a motion in arrest of judgment, which was overruled and be was sentenced to three years in tbe penitentiary. Tbe circuit court affirmed tbe judgment of tbe court of common pleas and a motion is made for leave to file a petition in error in this court.

By tbe motions and tbe demurrer it was sought to question tbe sufficiency of tbe indictment on two grounds: First, that it appears upon tbe face of the indictment that tbe plaintiff is not tbe owner of tbe property; and, Second, that it does not appear that tbe plaintiff’s interest in tbe property is of tbe value of fifty dollars.

[38] At common law arson is the malicious burning of another’s house; “it is an offense against the security of the habitation rather than the property. So that by another’s house is meant another’s to occupy, consequently, at common law, one cannot commit arson of his own house, even when it is insured.” 2 Bishop’s New Criminal Law, secs. 8 and 12; Snyder v. People, 26 Mich., 106.

Our arson statute reads as follows, section. 6831, Revised Statutes: “Whoever maliciously burns, or attempts to burn, any dwelling house, kitchen, smokehouse, shop, office, barn, stable, storehouse, warehouse, railroad coach or car, malthouse, stillhouse, mill, pottery or any other building, the property of another person, or any church, meeting house, courthouse, workhouse, schoolhouse, jail or the Ohio penitentiary, or any shop, storehouse or building within the inclosed walls thereof, or any other public building, or any ship or other watercraft, or any toll bridge or any part thereof, erected across any river, wholly or partly within this state, or any other bridge erected across any of the waters within this state, or sets fire to or attempts to set fire to anything in or near to any such building, coach or .car, water craft or bridge, with intent to burn the same, shall, if the value of any such building, coach or car, water craft or bridge, burned, attempted or intended to be burned, is fifty dollars or more, be imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than twenty years, or if the value is less than that sum, be fined not more than $200, or imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.” This section, while extending the offense of arson at common law, also comprised it, and, as we shall see, was interpreted in the light of the principles of the common law and did not make it an offense to burn one’s own building, hence the [39] reason for section 6832, Revised Statutes, making it an offense for one to burn a building bis own property, of the value of fifty dollars, with intent to prejudice the insurer.

Tbe crime under the latter section is a different crime than that under the former. The former is a crime against property while the essence of the latter is the burning of property with the intent specified.

Under the former a person is guilty if he maliciously burn the property of another whether or not it was also with the intent to prejudice, and he is not guilty thereunder for burning his own property even if it be with the intent to defraud the insurer, while under the latter he is guilty if he burn his own property with the intent to prejudice the insurer, but not for the burning of the property of another.

The reason for inserting the words “the same be-, ing his own property” in the latter section is not apparent unless it be that it was assumed that if it ;was not his own property he would be guilty under the first section. Whether or not this is so we are not called upon to determine. In Commonwealth v. Makely, 131 Mass., 421, it is ruled: “An indictment on the Gen. Sts., c. 161, sec. 1, for burning the dwelling house of another, is not sustained by proof that the defendant burned the house by the owner’s procurement, to enable him to obtain money from an insurer. ’ ’

The punishment for the two crimes is substantially the . same, and it might have been better, as is done in some states, to omit the words, “the same being his own property, ’ ’ since the gravamen of the crime is the burning of a building of the value of fifty dollars with the intent to defraud.

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Jones v. State, 70 Ohio St. (N.S.) 36 (Ohio 1904).

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Related

Commonwealth v. Makely
131 Mass. 421 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1881)
State v. Lyon
12 Conn. 487 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1838)
Snyder v. People
26 Mich. 106 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1872)
Trustees of Brimfield v. Commissioners of Portage
10 Ohio St. 283 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1840)
Garrett v. State
10 N.E. 570 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1887)