United States v. Davis

25 F. Cas. 781, 5 Mason C.C. 356
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts·Decided October 15, 1829·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

STORY, Circuit Justice.

We have considered the motion, and are of opinion, that the objection taken at the bar cannot be maintained in point of law, and the motion ought therefore to be overruled. The crimes act of 1790, c. 9 [1 Story’s Laws, p. 83, c. 36] § 16, provides,, “that if any person within any of the places under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, or upon the high seas, shall take and carry away, with intent to steal or purloin, the personal goods of another,” &c. he shall, on conviction, be liable to- a certain punishment prescribed by the act. It is clear, that no person is punishable under this act, unless his case falls within the descriptive terms used in the act. If he should take and carry away, with intent to steal or purloin, any thing, not the “personal goods” of another, or should commit the of-fence in a place not “under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States,” he would not be liable to punishment under the act. And an indictment, which did not contain all the material statements to bring the case within the statute, would be bad, and judgment might, even after verdict, be arrested for the defect. And an-indictment, to be properly framed, must follow, if not the [783] very words, at least the substance of the statute. Now, it is clear, that the present indictment could not be supported for a moment on the act of 1790, for it does not state, that the place is “under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States,” nor does it use the words of the statute, “take and carry away with intent to steal or purloin;” both which defects would be fatal. For in criminal cases, courts of law are not at liberty to make intendments and inferences to support indictments, in the same manner as they may do to support civil actions. How, then, can the court say, upon .this motion, that the offence described in this indictment is the same offence provided for in the act of 1790? If the words of the act of 1790 describe the offence of larceny or theft at the common law, still the indictment must use the words of the statute, for it is punishable as a statute offence; and it would not be sufficient to allege, that the party was guilty of larceny or theft. And for the same reason it would not be sufficient to use any other words, not being those of the statute, although in the sense of the common law they may be descriptive of the same offence. ■Whether the words, “take and carry away with intent to steal,” are exactly in ail cases of the same legal import with “feloniously steal, take, and carry away,” it is unnecessary to consider.

Farther; an indictment on the act of 1790 lies only, where the offence is committed in respect to the “personal goods” of another. To ascertain what is the meaning of these words we must resort to the common law, for that furnishes the proper rule of interpretation. Now, in the strict sense of the common law, personal goods are goods, which are moveable, belonging to, or the property of, some person, and which have an intrinsic value. Bonds, bills, and notes, which are ehoses in action, are not esteemed, by the common law, goods, whereof larceny may be committed, being of no intrinsic value, and not importing any property in possession of the person, from whom they are stolen, but only evidence of property. See 2 Bl. Comm. 383, 387. 394, 39G, 397; 4 Bl. Comm. 232, 233. 234; 2 East, P. C. 5S7; 2 Buss. Crimes, 1095; 1 Hawk. P. C. bk. 1, c. 33, §§ 34. 35. It is true, that the words “goods” or “chattels,” may, in the construction of wills, include bonds, notes, bank-bills, &c.; but this is upon the presumed intention of the testator, where a liberal exposition of his words is allowable, and upon principles derived from the civil and canon law. 2 Hop. Leg. c. 16. But in penal statutes a more strict construction is adopted; and the analogy of the common law in respect to larceny may well furnish the proper rule for decision. We think, then, that “personal goods,” in the sense of the act of 1790, do not embrace ehoses in action. And the present indictment is, in part, founded on a larceny of ehoses in action.

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United States v. Davis, 25 F. Cas. 781, 5 Mason C.C. 356 (circtdma 1829).

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