People v. Loomis & Ramsdell
New York Supreme Court
Certiorari to the Oneida general sessions. The defendants were indicted for larceny in stealing a certain receipt executed by one Joseph Shepard, acknowledging the payment of seven dollars by the defendant Loomis to Shepard, which the grand jurors say they cannot more particularly describe, it being in the possession of the defendant; but which is alleged to be the personal property of Shepard and of the value of seven dollars. The defendants pleaded not guilty.
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Certiorari to the Oneida general sessions. The defendants were indicted for larceny in stealing a certain receipt executed by one Joseph Shepard, acknowledging the payment of seven dollars by the defendant Loomis to Shepard, which the grand jurors say they cannot more particularly describe, it being in the possession of the defendant; but which is alleged to be the personal property of Shepard and of the value of seven dollars. The defendants pleaded not guilty. It appeared, on the trial, that Loomis owed Shepard seven dollars, and that at an interview between him and the defendants, Loomis…
1Opinion of the Court
By the Court, Beardsley, J.
At common law the only description of property which could be the subject of larceny, was personal goods—that is mere movables having an intrinsic value. The crime could not be committed of things which savor of the realty, or of written instruments of any description. (4 Bl: Com. 229, 232-4; 2 Russ. on Cr. Phil. ed. 1845, p. 2, 62, 70; 3 Ch. Cr. L. 916, 929, 931; 2 East’s P. C. 553, 587, 597.) But although such instruments could not, in strictness, be stolen, the paper or parchment on which they were written might be, and prosecutions for petty thefts of this…
2Cited by16 opinions
- Phelps v. . PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1878
- Commonwealth v. CabotMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1922
- Jolly v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1898
- Bork v. . the People of the State of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1883
- McCarty v. StateWashington Supreme Court · 1890
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