People v. Williams

24 Mich. 156, 1871 Mich. LEXIS 155
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 29, 1871
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 24 Mich. 156 (People v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Williams, 24 Mich. 156, 1871 Mich. LEXIS 155 (Mich. 1871).

Opinion

Cooley, J.

The first exception in this case is, that the jurors were summoned by the sheriff of Wayne county instead of by an officer of the metropolitan police. There is no claim that the jurors were improperly drawn, or that there was any improper conduct by the sheriff. The only complaint is that the wrong officer summoned them. We think there is nothing in this objection. If the jurors, after being properly drawn, had. appeared without being summoned at all, no objection could have been taken afterwards; and at most the action of the sheriff can only be treated as a nullity. It is immaterial to this case, therefore, which officer was entitled, under the statute, to serve the venire.

The evidence of the possession of the license by Bitter-man, and his exhibition of the same in Detroit, and what he said about it, does not appear to my brethren to have been admissible. These things were no part of the res gestaej they were res inter alios, occurring afterwards, and the purpose in proving them could only be to afford an inference that the defendants stole the money. But such an inference would be very remote, and the evidence is liable to so many other inferences consistent with innocence, that the court [162]*162cannot look upon it as relevant. It may have done no mischief, but there is always danger in admitting evidence the tendency of which is merely to suggest suspicion while it really proves nothing. For this error the verdict should be set aside.

I have no doubt that the word “property,” as employed in the statute, would include money. Money is property; the word used here was the most general that could he employed, and the purpose undoubtedly was to cover every thing which is the subject of larceny.

Nor do I think it true that there was no evidence to go to the jury that the money was brought within the state. It was shown that the defendants came here immediately after the larceny, and that in this state they undertook to negotiate for the return of the money, and to repay it. This was not conclusive, hut it afforded a strong presumption of their possession of the money here.

Nor does it seem to me that there is any valid objection to the charge of the court regarding the ownership of the money by Bernard Williams. Tbe charge in effect was, that his delivering his money to his wife, and the putting the same with her own so that it could not he distinguished, in the expectation that it was to be employed for a common purchase, would not preclude its being described as bis property in tbe information; in other words, that it still remained bis property notwithstanding such intermingling. This, I think, was correct. There was no necessity for distinguishing by the evidence which dollars’ belonged to Bernard Williams and which to his wife; it was not even necessary that the parties should be able to do so; it was enough that the dollars belonging to tbe complainant, whether distinguishable or not, were taken. Proof that such was the case supports the charge.

The principal question in this case arises upon the fact [163]*163that tbe larceny was committed in another state, and that the offense of the defendants within this state, if any was here committed, consisted in bringing within it the property which they had feloniously taken. The statute provides that “every person who shall feloniously steal the property of another, in any other state or country, and shall bring the same into this state, may be convicted and punished in the same' manner as if such larceny had been committed in this state; and in every such ease such larceny may be charged to have been committed in any town or city into or through which such stolen property shall have been brought: Provided, That every such person may plead a former conviction or acquittal for the same offense in •another state or country; and if such plea be admitted or established, it shall be a bar to any further or other proceedings against such person for the same offense.” — Comp. L.,3597.

This statute is claimed to be invalid. The criminal laws of no state,' it is argued, can have force beyond the territorial limits of the state itself, and the state can have no authority to take cognizance of and punish the acts committed elsewhere. A crime is an offense against the sovereignty, and can only be taken notice of and punished by the sovereignty offended; others have no concern in it, and must treat it as matter of indifference. In this case, tbe felonious act— the taking and asportation animo furancli — were within the •state of Louisiana, and constituted an offense against its sovereignty which Michigan could not inquire into; the coming by the defendants within this, state afterwards was a lawful act, which the state could neither punish nor inhibit. When, therefore, it undertakes to make the larceny •a crime here, it, in effect, takes notice of, and assumes to visit with penalties, a wrong committed solely against the peace and dignity of another state, which that state is .amply competent to punish if its authorities see fit, and [164]*164for the purposes of punishment has ample means, under the constitution of the United States, to reclaim the offenders.

These arguments appear to roe to rest for their foundation upon the idea that criminal acts committed abroad are, and must in the nature of things be regarded as, acts to which, as well as to their consequents, our government is indifferent. For if they are acts in which the state or its citizens are concerned; if they tend to disturb the peace and good order of this community, and if persistence in the wrong, after the offender shall haye come within this state, can fairly be regarded as a contempt of its dignity and disregard of its sovereign authority, it can not be held that the state is in the position of an indifferent spectator; and if not, it must judge for itself whether that which is offensive shall be punished as a crime or left to be treated as a mere personal tort.

Now whatever might be the true rule had the larceny in question taken place in a foreign country, I am of the opinion that when it takes place in another state of our union, and the wrong is continued within our oavu state, it is not and cannot be a matter wholly indifferent to our oavu government. These states all form integral parts of one nation ; and though each is sovereign, as regards most matters of interior regulation, they are nevertheless bound by such ties, and subject to such mutual obligations, as preclude one looking on Avitk unconcern when a wrong is being committed against the majesty of the laAv in another. In some classes of offenses the interest is Arery direct and immediate, and might subject our citizens to being called upon for aid in repressing them. This Avould he the case if armed resistance should be made to the authority of another state, and the federal government should summon our citi— izens to its aid, either by conscription or by requisition upon the governor. It Avould also be the case should any

[165]*165attempt be made to abolish republican goyernment and the federal government should interfere, as by the constitution it is required to do. But in other cases our people are necessarily affected in some degree, when offenses are committed against the persons or property of citizens of other states.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
24 Mich. 156, 1871 Mich. LEXIS 155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-williams-mich-1871.