6. As regards stealing from certain places. Persons found in possession of such animals, or their skins or plumage. Stealing pigcons. Stealing from the person. Robbery. Threats. Stealing from certain places. Sacrilege. Burglary. Housebreaking and stealing in a house. By s. 32, "If any dog or any such beast, or the skin thereof, or any such bird, or any of the plumage thereof, shall be found in the posses sion or on the premises of any person by virtue of a search warrant be granted as hereinafter mentioned, (sect. 63, ante, 1114), the justi by whom such warrant was granted may restore the same respective to the owner thereof; and the person in whose possession or on wi premises the same shall be so found (such person knowing the dog, beast, or bird has been stolen, or that the skin is the skadi stolen dog or beast, or that the plumage is the plumage of a stolen bal. shall, on conviction before a justice of the peace, be liable for the offence to such forfeiture, and for every subsequent offence, to such pe nishment, as persons convicted of stealing any dog, beast, or bird, ☎ herein before made liable to." See the general clauses, ante, p. 1113 to 1119; and mode of proceed ing, ante, p. 1115 to 1118. As to taking or killing pigeons under circumstances not amouEKE to larceny at common law, see 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 33, tit. “Game" Vol. III. p. 281. 5. LARCENY EXTENDED BY STATUTE-AS REGARDS STEALING FROM TH PERSON. If the goods be taken from a man's person, the offence receives fr ther degree of guilt: and if it be attended with putting him in fer, it is called robbery. If it be without putting him in fear, then it is called barely larceny from the person. (1 Hawk. c. 34, s. 2). And the caly from the person, not amounting to robbery, is punishable by Vict. c. 85, s. 5, by transportation for any term not excede years nor less than ten years, or imprisonment for any tere ing three years. d These offences are provided against by the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 9,4; see tit. "Robbery," Vol. V. As to the offence of obtaining money by threatening letters, see 1.1. "Threats," Vol. VI. 6. LARCENY EXTENDED BY STATUTE-AS REGARDS STEALING FEM TAIN PLACES. (a). Sacrilege, p. 1142. (b). Burglary, p. 1142. (c). Housebreaking, and Stealing from the Dwelling-Han Buildings in the Curtilage, p. 1142. (d). Breaking into and Stealing in Shops, &c., p. 1146. (e). Stealing Goods of 10s. Value in a Course of Manufacture, piÐ (a). Sacrilege. The 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 10, provides against this offence, "Sacrilege," Vol. V. (b). Burglary. This offence has been already noticed under tit. “Burglary," Fill (c). Housebreaking and Stealing from the Dwelling-House and Buildings in the Curtilage. Larceny from the house is not distinguished at common law from st ple larceny, unless where it is accompanied with the circumst stealing from certain places. 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 29. breaking the house at night, when it falls under another description, 6. As regards that of burglary, and for which see tit. " Burglary," Vol. I. By the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 12, however, it was enacted, that "if any person shall break and enter any dwelling-house, and steal therein any chattel, money, or valuable security to any value whatever; or shall steal any such property to any value whatever in any dwellinghouse, any person therein being put in fear; or shall steal in any dwelling-house any chattel, money, or valuable security to the value in the whole of five pounds or more; every such offender, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon." But the 7 Will. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 86, repealing so much of that section as relates to any person stealing any chattel, money, or valuable security to any value whatever, in any dwelling-house, any person therein being put in fear, enacts, By sect. 5, "That whosoever shall steal any property in any dwellinghouse, and shall by any menace or threat put any one being therein in bodily fear, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fifteen years nor less than ten years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding three years." And by sect. 9, the word "property" shall, throughout this act (c. 86), be deemed to denote every thing included under the words "chattel, money, or valuable security," used in the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29. By the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 13, "No building, although within the same curtilage with the dwelling-house, and occupied therewith, shall be deemed to be part of such dwelling-house for the purpose of burglary, or for any of the purposes aforesaid, unless there shall be a communication between such building and dwelling-house, either immediate, or by means of a covered and inclosed passage leading from the one to the other." And by sect. 14, "If any person shall break and enter any building, and steal therein any chattel, money, or valuable security, such building being within the curtilage of a dwelling-house, and occupied therewith, but not being part thereof according to the provision herein before mentioned, every such offender, being convicted thereof, either upon an indictment for the same offence, or upon an indictment for burglary, housebreaking, or stealing to the value of 57. in a dwelling-house, containing a separate count for such offence, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be transported beyond the seas for life, or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years, and, if a male, to be once, twice, or thrice publicly or privately whipped (if the Court shall so think fit), in addition to such imprisonment." With respect to that portion of the 12th section of the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, which related to the stealing in any dwelling-house any chattel, money, or valuable security to the value in the whole of five pounds or more, and which imposed a penalty of death for such offence; the stat. 7 Will. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 90, s. 1, after reciting the 2 & 3 Will. IV. c. 62, which abolished such capital punishment, and altered it to transportation for life, and likewise reciting the 1st and 2nd sections of the 4 Will. IV. c. 44, which latter act, after reciting the 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, ss. 12 and 13, altered the punishment for breaking and entering in a dwelling-house and stealing therein, enacts, "That so much of the said recited acts as relates to the punishment of persons convicted of offences for which they are liable under the said act of the 2 & 3 Will. IV. [c. 62], to be transported for life, and so much of the said act of the 4 Will. IV. [c. 44], as relates to the punishment of any person convicted of the offence of breaking and entering any dwellinghouse and stealing therein as in that act mentioned, shall from and Stealing in dwelling-house with menace or threat. Construction of the word " pro. perty." What buildings only are part of a house, for capital purposes. Robbery in any building within house, but not privileged as part same curtilage as Stealing in dwellin-house to value of 51. 6. As regards after the commencement of this act be and the same is hereby restealing from pealed; and that from and after the commencement of this act every certain places. person convicted of any of such offences shall be liable to be transportat beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fifteen years nor than ten years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding the years." Punishment. Transportation. Offences punishable by imprisonment. Hard labour. Solitary confinement. Accessories. What an offence,. &c. What goods. Sect. 2, reciting the 14th and 15th sections of the 7 & 8 Geo.. 29, repeals the punishment therein imposed, and in lieu thereof c "That every person convicted after the commencement of this act ra 1st October, 1837] of any of such offences respectively shall be te to be transported beyond the seas for any term not exceeding ffen years nor less than ten years, or to be imprisoned for any term not aceeding three years." And sect. 3 enacts, "That in awarding the punishment of impris ment for any offence punishable under this act it shall be law fr the Court to direct such imprisonment to be with or without ha labour in the common gaol or house of correction, and also to direct the the offender shall be kept in solitary confinement for any portion portions of such imprisonment, or of such imprisonment with har labour, not exceeding one month at any one time, and not exceečim three months in any one year, as to the Court in its discretion seem meet." As to principals in the second degree and accessories, see tits. Br glary," and "Accessory," Vol. I. As to what is a sufficient breaking and entering to constitute As to what is a dwelling-house or curtilage under the above & There must be an actual, and not merely a constructive, taking Where it appeared that the prisoner, after breaking and enter the house, took two half-sovereigns from a bureau in one of the rou being immediately detected, threw them under the grate in that re Park, J., held, that this was a sufficient asportation to constitute as ing within the meaning of this clause of the statute. (R. v. Amir, IC & P. 344). The stealing of bank notes was held within the 12 Anne, sli (Dean's case, 2 East's P. C. 646; 2 Leach, 693, S. C.) For a case to be within the meaning of the statute, it is necessary the goods should be under the protection of the house, and be depend in it for safe custody. (Jervis Arch. C. L., 9th ed., 206). Goods left by mistake at a house were held entitled, under ta dil statute, to the protection of the house, so as to make the stea lodger therein, under pretence of their being his, an offence. Peter Carroll, R. & M. 89). And the present statute would inc case of a man stealing goods in his own house, as was the case is Thompson and Macdaniel, (1 Leach, 379); as was decided in a case where a person who in his own dwelling-house stole the gase another to the value of 51. was convicted of larceny in a dwelling to the value of 5l., under stat. 7 Will. IV. & 1 Vict. c. 90, s. 2. v. Bowden, 1 C. & K. 147). And also that of a wife stealing in her h band's house. (Íd. 380, in notis). So, where a man went to bed with a prostitute, having put his watch in his hat on a table, and the woman stole the watch while he wa asleep; this was held to be a stealing in the dwelling-house, and not u stealing from the person. (R. v. Hamilton, 8 C. & P. 49). In R. v. Taylor, (R. & R. 418), it was held, by a majority of the 6. As regards judges, that, where a lodger invites a man to his room, and there steals stealing from his goods, not about his person, he is liable to be found guilty of stealing certain places. in a dwelling-house. The goods of a lodger's guest were there held under the protection of the dwelling-house. (And see also R. v. Campbell, 1 Leach, 642). If one, on going to bed, put his clothes and money by his bed-side, these are under the protection of the dwelling-house, and not of the person: therefore, a party stealing them was held rightly convicted on an indictment for stealing in a dwelling-house. (R. v. Thomas, cor. Twelve Judges, 1827, MS. Car. C. L. 295). The question, whether goods are under the protection of the dwellinghouse, or in the personal care of the owner, is a question for the Court, and not for the jury. (S. C.) But, where a servant pretended to concur with two persons, who proposed to him to unite with them in robbing his master's house: the master being out of town, the servant communicated with the police, and acted under their instructions: in consequence of this, a little after nine o'clock one evening, he let in one of the persons by lifting the latch; but before that person had taken any property he was seized by the police, and, a crow-bar being found upon him, was immediately placed in confinement: after this the servant went out again, and fetched the second person, and let him in in the same manner: this person was seized with a basket of plate in his hand, which he had carried from the kitchen, part of the way up stairs:-it was held by Maule and Rolfe, Bs., that neither of the persons could be convicted of urglary; but that the one who was seized with the plate might be convicted of stealing in a dwelling-house, and also that the other might be indicted as an accessory before the fact to such stealing. (Reg. v. Jones, 1 C. & M. 218). So, in a case where a servant let a person into his master's house on a Saturday afternoon, and concealed him there all night, in order that he might rob the house, and on the Sunday morning left the premises: in pursuance of the previous arrangement, the man, in the servant's absence, broke into the bed-room of the master, and stole the contents of his cash-box:-Coleridge, J., held, that the man who took the property from the cash-box was rightly charged as a thief. (Reg. v. Tuckwell, 1 Č. & M. 215). Where the prosecutor left his house, intending to use it as a warehouse, Whose goods. but left persons to sleep and to guard the property, it was held, that this was not to be considered the dwelling-house of the prosecutor. (R. v. Flannagan, R. & R. 187). But though a servant live rent free in a house belonging to his master, and his master pay the taxes, and the master's business be carried on in the house, yet, if the servant and his family be the only persons who sleep in the house, and the part in which the master's business is carried on be at all times open to those parts in which the servant lives, it may be stated as the servant's house, though the only part entered by the thief were that in which the master's business was carried on. (R. v. Witt, R. & M. C. C. 248. And see R. v. Wilson, R. & R. 115; R. v. Stock, Id. 185; R. v. Jobling, Id. 525; R. v. Jarvis, R. & R. 5 ; R. v. Camfield, Id. 42; tit. "Burglary," Vol. I. p. 489, 492). In an indictment for breaking and entering a house in the day time, G. M. and others being therein, and stealing to the value of 40s., the house was laid to be in the parish of "St. Botolph, Aldgate:" it appeared, that the parish where the house was situate was "St. Botolph without Aldgate." The prisoner was acquitted of the capital charge, and convicted of larceny. The twelve judges held, that he was rightly convicted, as there was no proof that there was no such parish in the Variance in place named in indict ment, 6. As regards stealing from certain places. Several things stolen. Breaking into and stealing in shops. Stealing goods of 10s. value, in a course of manu facture (a). county as that named. (R. v. Bullock, cor. Twelve Judges, 1825, Car. C. L. 282). An indictment stating that the prisoner, "on the 6th of August, Geo. IV., at Liverpool, in the county aforesaid, one coat, &c., of the goods and chattels of D. J. in the dwelling-house of W. T. then an there being, then and there did feloniously steal, &c.," is sufficient without the words "there situate." (R. v. Napper, R. & M. R. 44). If a prisoner, who was in the service of the prosecutor, steal a quastity of lace in several pieces, the pieces together being above 5l. in value and bring them all out of his master's house at the same time, this is a capital offence, although it be shewn that the prisoner had the opp tunity of stealing the lace by a piece at a time, and that no one of the pieces was worth 5l. (R. v. Jones, 4 C. & P. 217). (d). Breaking into and Stealing in Shops, &c. By stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 15, "If any person shall break and enter any shop, warehouse, or counting-house, and steal therein any chattel, money, or valuable security, every such offender, being c victed thereof, shall be liable to any of the punishments which the Cour may award, as hereinbefore last mentioned," (viz. the punishment sect. 14, ante, 1143. But see now, as to the punishment, the 7 W IV. & 1 Vict. c. 90, ss. 2 and 3, ante, 1144). As to principals in the second degree and accessories, see tit. “A sories," Vol. I. The former offence of privately stealing in a shop no longer exists As to breaking into the shops, &c. of the British Plate Glas C pany, and stealing therein, see the 13 Geo. III. c. 38, tit. “Ma Injuries to Property," Vol. V. As to breaking into the shops, &c. of the British Linen Company, see the 4 Geo. III. c. 37, s. 16, tit. "Malicious Injuries to Property, Vol. V. In an indictment against a servant of the West India Dock Company for stealing a quantity of canvass and hessen belonging to the company from their warehouses, it was held sufficient to state the property to be "the goods and chattels of the West India Dock Company," and necessary, notwithstanding the words of the 1 & 2 Will. IV. c. ll, s 133, to allege in addition that it was feloniously taken from the said company. (Reg. v. Stokes, 8 C. & P. 151; per Mirehouse, C. S.) But an indictment under the above statute of Geo. IV. for stealing in a shop, &c., must allege that the prisoner stole the goods therein; an averment that the goods were in the shop and that the prisoner s them is not enough. (Reg. v. Smith, 2 M. & Rob. 115; per Patteson, J.) And it has been holden, upon the same act, that a shop, to be within it, must be a shop for the sale of goods, and that a mere mortshop (such as a carpenter's or blacksmith's shop) would not be sufficient. (Reg. v. Sanders, 9 C. & P. 79). But it has been ruled by Lord Denman, C. J., that a pers breaks into a blacksmith's shop, and steals goods there, may be con victed under the act. (Reg. v. Carter, 1 C. & K. 173). (e). Stealing Goods of 10s. Value in a Course of Manufacture. value of 10s., any goods or article of silk, woollen, linen, or cotton, or f By stat. 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, s. 16, "If any person shall steal, to the any one or more of those materials mixed with each other, or mixed with any other material, whilst laid, placed, or exposed, during any stage, (a) As to the embezzlement of such articles under this value, see tit. "Ser vants," Vol. V. |