State v. Campbell

Citation9 S.E. 410,108 N.C. 344
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of North Carolina
Decision Date08 April 1889
PartiesState v. Campbell.

Larceny—Property Subject op.

1. A due-bill is an " obligation, " within the meaning of Code N. C. § 1064, making an "order, bill of exchange, bond, promissory note, or other obligation" the subject of larceny.

2. One cannot be convicted of larceny of such due-bill if it has previously been paid.

Appeal from superior court, Yadkin county; Philips, Judge.

A. E. Holton, for defendant. The Attorney General, for the State.

Merrimon, J. The defendant is charged with the larceny of "one due-bill of the value of fifty-four cents, of the goods, chattels, and moneys, " etc. The indictment contains but a single count, and concludes, against the "form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State." The defendant pleaded not guilty. On the trial the state produced evidence tending to prove "that the due-bill alleged to have been stolen was given by J. W. Windsor to one Bud Morgan for fifty-four cents, and afterwards taken up and paid off by said Windsor, and laid by him on a counter or shelf in his store, for the purpose of showing his wife how to date a due-bill; whence it was taken by the defendant a few days thereafter." It was contended for the defendant that, if he "took the due-bill after it had been paid off and taken up by the" prosecutor and was worthless, it was not the subject of larceny, and he requested the court to so instruct the jury. The court declined to give them such instruction, but told them "that if the defendant took the due-bill with a felonious intent, notwithstanding it had been paid off and taken up, the defendant would be guilty." The defendant excepted. There was a verdict and judgment against him, and he appealed.

The defendant is not indicted for the common-law offense of larceny, but for larceny-as prescribed by thestatute, (Code, § 1064,)which, among other things, declares that "if any person shall feloniously steal, take, and carry away, or take by robbery, * * * any order, bill of exchange, bond, promissory note, or other obligation, either for the payment of money or for the delivery of specilic articles, being the property of any other person, or of any corporation, (notwithstanding any of the said particulars may be termed in law a 'chose in action, ') such felonious stealing, taking, and carrying away, or taking by robbery, shall be felony of the same nature and degree, and in the same manner, as it would have been if the offender had feloniously stolen or taken by robbery money, goods, or property of any value, and such offender for every such offense shall suffer, " etc. The choses in action thus made the subjects of larceny are not deemed such subjects at the common law. They are very important instrumentalities employed constantly in trade and commerce, and are val uable as species of property to the owners of them. They are susceptible of being stolen easily, and are such things as, in the absence of protection of them against larceny by the principles of the common law, require to be so protected by criminal enactments; hence the statutory provision partly recited above. They are regarded and treated as certain written evidence of valuable and useful orders, promises, or obligations to pay money, or for the delivery of specific articles. They are valuable and useful as such evidence, and, for the purposes of the statute cited, have no other property or quality of value; however, the paper or other thing on which they may be written might possibly be treated as bits of personal property of trilling value, and therefore the subject of larceny at common law. Indeed, in cases similar to the present one, it has been not uncommon as a measure of caution, to put two or more counts in the indictment, charging in the first one the larceny of a note, bond, or other thing mentioned in the statute; and also, in a second one, the larceny of the paper on which they were written. State v. Banks, Phil. (N. C.) 577; Whart. Crim. Law, §§ 349, 350, 1759, 1838; Rex v. Vyse, 1 Moody, 218. When, however, the indictment charges the larceny of one of the several species of choses in action specified in the statute, and there is no count for a larceny at common law, as suggested, the state must prove the larceny of the chose in action as charged, else the prosecution must fail, because the charge is not for the larceny merely of a piece of paper on which the note or other thing is written, but of the valuable written evidence of the chose in action, as charged and designated in the statute...

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5 cases
  • Commonwealth v. Weston
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 14 Marzo 1922
    ...P. 349; Jolly v. United States, 170 U. S. 402, 407, 18 Sup. Ct. 624, 42 L. Ed. 1085;People v. Loomis, 4 Denio (N. Y.) 380;State v. Campbell, 103 N. C. 344, 9 S. E. 410. See Stephen, ‘History of the Criminal Law of England,’ vol. 1, p. 284; Id., vol. 3, 143; Pollock & Maitland, History of En......
  • Felkner v. State
    • United States
    • Maryland Court of Appeals
    • 24 Noviembre 1958
    ...a blank piece of paper' without substantial value and could not be used to carry the larceny over the $30 line. See also State v. Campbell, 103 N.C. 344, 9 S.E. 410, which decided that a due bill that had already been paid could not be the subject of larceny under a statute making it larcen......
  • First Nat. Bank v. United States, J-71.
    • United States
    • U.S. Claims Court
    • 3 Marzo 1930
    ...whereby one party contracts with another for the payment of money or the delivery of specific articles." Bouvier's Law Dictionary. State v. Campbell, 103 N. C. 344, 9 S. E. 410; Morrison v. Lovejoy, 6 Minn. 353 (Gil. "Securities" is defined by standard authorities as follows: Webster's New ......
  • Mcabsher v. Richmond & D. R. Co
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • 10 Febrero 1891
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