Farlow v. State

• If a person unlawfully appropriates the personal, property of another to his own use the path between proof of that fact and conviction of a crime should be straight and clear. But in the absence of a legislative enactment creating an all inclusive crime of theft it is not. We do not have such a statute in Maryland. The result is that the precise factual circumstances determine what offense is committed and one offense is distinguished from another by fine distinctions, always technical and frequently absurd. See Loker v. State, 250 Md. 677; Loker v. State, 2 Md. App. 1; Couture v. State, 7…