State v. Campbell & Kopanski

Speakman, J.,

delivering the opinion of the Court:

The defendants contend that the language of our statute must be strictly construed, and to warrant a conviction it was incumbent upon the State to prove a taking from the physical possession of the prosecuting witness, and this the State has failed to do.

It is of course true that a penal statute which creates a new offense or contains language of a doubtful meaning requires strict construction.

Robbery at common law has been defined as “the felonious and forcible taking from the person of another *345of goods or money of any value, by violence or…