Murray v. United States

35 S.W. 240, 1 Indian Terr. 28, 1896 Indian Terr. LEXIS 57
Court Of Appeals Of Indian Territory·Decided February 15, 1896·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Lewis, J.

1. The first question presented for determination in this appeal is, does the evidence, as set out in the record, disclose such a special ownership in Newton Lawrence as to sustain the charge of the trial court upon this point, and to justify the refusal of the court to give the instruction requested by the appellant ? It is unquestionably the law that, were there is a general and special owner of the stolen goods, the pleader may charge them as belonging to either. 2 Bish. Cr. Proc. § 720 ; 3 Greenl. Ev. §161. This special ownership may exist in a variety of cases, — in a bailee, a common carrier, a hirer of a chattel, or any other person who has it for safe keeping, otherwise than as a sei’vant. In general terms, any one has a special ownership who has the care, control, and management of the property except in the case of servants having only temporary custody and use of the property, sub-ordinate to the owner, or person having the actual care, control, and management of the same. Their possession, under such circumstances of course, could not support an allegation of ownership. Does the evidence in this case, show such care, control and management upon the part of Newton Lawrence as to sustain the allegation ol ownership in him ? We are of the opinion that it does not. In Texas, whore cases of this kind have been frequently considered, it has been held, in the absence of other proof, that cattle running upon their accustomed range are in the possession of their owner. Deggs vs. State, 7 Tex. App. 359; Jones vs. State, 3 Tex. App. 498. It has also been held in that state that where cattle are ranging in one county, in the care, management, and under the control of an agent, who looks after them, milks the cows, and marks and brands the calves, while the owner lives in a country remote therefrom, the cattle are in the possession of such agent, in a sense that will support the allegation of ownership in him. Williams vs. State (Tex. App. ) 9. S. W. 357; Littleton vs. State, 20 Tex. App. 169. The proof in [32] this case shows that the animal charged to have been stolen was sometimes in a pasture, and some times on the range ; that it belonged to D. M. Lawrence ; and that Newton Lawrence looked after it as agent for his brother, D. M. Lawrence. It does not show what he did, in looking after it —whether he looked after it exclusively; whether D. M. Lawrence lived in or near the range of the animal, or elsewhere ; whether he participated in its care and management; whether the pasture in which it sometimes was, was his pasture, or the pasture'of Newton Lawrence. The evidence did not warrant the charge given, but required the giving of the charge requested by the.defendant.

2. The second instruction requested by the defendant was not applicable to the evidence as presented by the record. It is admitted, however, by the attorney for the government, that the evidence at the trial showed that the animal was at the time of the alleged offense, over a year old and unbranded. As the case will be reversed, the question presented by the requested instruction will arise upon the trial, and it is proper to determine such question now.

Section 1655, Chapter 45, entitled ‘ ‘ Criminal Law, ” of Mansfield’s Digest of the Laws of Arkansas, is as follows:

Owners of cattle, hogs, or sheep which run at large in the range or woods, shall designate such animals, if over twelve months old, by brands or ear marks ; otherwise, if taken or converted to the use of any other person, such person shall not be deemed guilty of larceny, but the owner may have his action for the value of such unmarked or unbranded animal.

Was this section, at the time of the alleged offense, in force in the Indian Territory ? By the' act of congress, approved May 2, 1890, it is provided that the Constitution of the United States and all general laws of the United States which prohibit crimes and misdemeanors in any place within [33] the exclusive jurisdiction of the United -States, except in the District of Columbia, shall have the same force and effect in the Indian Territory as elsewhere in the United States. The same law enacts that “the provisions of chapter 45 of the said general laws of Arkansas, entitled ‘Criminal Law,’ except as to the crimes and misdemeanors mentioned in the proviso to said section, and the provisions of Chapter 46 of said general laws of Arkansas, entitled ‘Criminal Procedure, ’ as far' as they are applicable, are hereby extended over and put in force in the Indian Territory, and jurisdiction to enforce them is hereby conferred upon the United States Courts therein; Provided, that in all cases where the laws of the United States and the said criminal laws of Ai’kansas have provided for the punishment of the same offenses, the laws of the United States shall govern as to such offenses. ”

Section 5356 of the Rev. St. U. S., is as follows:

‘ ‘Every person who, upon the high seas or in any place within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, takes and carries away with intent to steal or purloin, the personal goods of another, shall be punished by fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not more than one year, or by both such/fine and imprisonment. ”

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Murray v. United States, 35 S.W. 240, 1 Indian Terr. 28, 1896 Indian Terr. LEXIS 57 (Conn. 1896).

35 S.W. 240 (Murray v. United States) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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