Moulie v. State

• Decision Date: 19 May 1896
• Citation: 37 Fla. 321,20 So. 554
• Parties: MOULIE v. STATE.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

20 So. 554

37 Fla. 321

MOULIE v. STATE.

Florida Supreme Court

May 19, 1896

Error to criminal court of record, Duval county; H. B. Philips Judge.

E Moulie was convicted of obtaining money by false pretenses and brings error. Reversed.

Syllabus by the Court

SYLLABUS

1. In an indictment for obtaining goods by false pretenses, the ownership of the property alleged to have been obtained by reason of such pretenses is a material averment, and should be stated in an information or indictment for such offense. If the property fraudulently obtained was money, the same rule applies, and the ownership should be directly alleged.

2. In an information for obtaining money by reason of false pretenses, it is not sufficient that it may be gathered by inference from the allegations thereof that the ownership of the money was in some person therein named, but such ownership is a material fact, and should be directly averred.

COUNSEL Frank W. Pope and T. A. Ledwith, for plaintiff in error.

William B. Lamar, Atty. Gen., and George U. Walker, for the State.

OPINION

LIDDON J.

The plaintiff in error was charged in the court below with obtaining money by false pretenses. The information, omitting formal commencement, conclusion, and affidavit, reads as follows 'That E. Moulie, laborer, late of the county of Duval and state of Florida, on the 11th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, in the county and state aforesaid, feloniously devising and intending to cheat and defraud one Louise Armellini of her property, designedly, by a false pretense, and with intent to defraud the said Louise Armellini, unlawfully, knowingly, and designedly did falsely pretend to the said Louise Armellini that the stock and shares of stock of that certain company or concern known as the E. Moulie Florida Floral Perfumery Company were of great value, and that the said assets of said company were largely in excess of all its debts and liabilities, and that said company was perfectly solvent, and amply able to pay its debts, whereas, in truth and in fact, the said E. Moulie Florida Floral Perfumery Company was then utterly insolvent, the stock and shares of stock of said company were worthless and of no value, its assets were not in excess of its debts and liabilities, and the said company was not only not able to pay its debts, but was utterly unable to pay any of its debts, all of which the said E. Moulie then and there well knew. And having so falsely represented the value of said stock and shares of said stock of said company, and having made the said false pretense as to the solvency of said company to the said Louise Armellini, he, the said E. Moulie, then and there besought her to lend to him the sum of five hundred dollars in money, proposing to secure to her the repayment of the same by the 15th day of November, A. D. 1893, together with one hundred dollars as a bonus, or for the use of said money, by transferring to her, the said Louise Armellini, six of the said shares of the said stock of the E. Moulie Florida Floral Perfumery Company, said transfer to be by a writing assigning unto her said shares of said stock for said purpose. And the said Louise Armellini, confiding in and believing the said statements, pretenses, and representations of said E. Moulie to be true, and in reliance thereon, and thus being moved and induced to part with her said money, and so to lend the same to him, the said E. Moulie, who also represented that he had full power and authority to make said transfer of said stock, and to execute said written assignment thereof, which said last-mentioned representation the said Louise Armellini also believed to be true, she being thereunto thus moved, induced, and persuaded, did then and there lend unto the said E. Moulie the sum of five hundred dollars in money of the lawful currency of the United States of America, of the value of five hundred dollars, he, the said E. Moulie, giving to her at the same time said transfer and assignment in writing, assigning in terms to her, upon said 11th day of April, A. D. 1893, six shares of said stock of...