State v. Dan
Nevada Supreme Court
Appeal from the District Court of the Second Judicial District, Ormsby County. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion. I. It is not burglary under the statute of Nevada to break and enter an unoccupied house with intent to steal, etc. (1 Oomp. L. 2365.) A penal statute must be strictly construed. The words of the statute must be construed together and made consistent, and the spirit of the act must prevail.
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Appeal from the District Court of the Second Judicial District, Ormsby County. The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion. I. It is not burglary under the statute of Nevada to break and enter an unoccupied house with intent to steal, etc. (1 Oomp. L. 2365.) A penal statute must be strictly construed. The words of the statute must be construed together and made consistent, and the spirit of the act must prevail. Inhabitancy is essential to' complete the crime under the precedent and principal clause, and the subsequent and subordinate clauses must be held to require the like conditions.…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court,
Belknap, J.:
At the common law inhabitancy of the building in which the offense was committed was one of the tests of the crime of burglary. It is said that the words “ house or building, ’ ’ in section 2365 of the crimes act, are used in the same sense as at common law. Our statute as originally adopted declared that the offense may be committed in “any dwelling house, or any other house or building whatever. ’ ’ (Stat. 1861, 66.) The statute was amended in 1869 so as to read “any dwelling house, or tent, or any other house or building whatever. ’ ’ *348(Stat. 1869, 65.) In its…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- People v. StickmanCalifornia Supreme Court · 1867
- Commonwealth v. ReynoldsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1877
- Anderson v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1872
3Cited by2 opinions
- State v. PirkeySouth Dakota Supreme Court · 1908
- Matthews v. StateAlabama Court of Appeals · 1917