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2 Cal. Unrep. 56

People v. Leehey

California Supreme Court

Decided September 13, 1879

California Supreme Court · decided 1879-09-13

<p>Grand Larceny—Theft of Horse—Value as Criterion.—Under section 487 of the Penal Code, larceny of a horse or mare is grand larceny, though the value of the animal is less than fifty dollars.1</p> <p>Embezzlement of Horse—Punishment—Section 514 of the Penal Code is not to be construed so as to make the embezzlement of a horse or mare punishable as less than grand larceny.</p>

Decided 1879-09-13

WALLACE, C. J., Dissenting.

¶1When the property feloniously taken exceeds fifty dollars in value, the offense is grand larceny. But if the property so taken be taken from the person of another, the offense is grand larceny even though the value be less than fifty dollars. So if the property taken be of the equine species, the offense is grand larceny, regardless of the actual value of the animal stolen: Penal Code, see. 487. The statute in these last two cases has ignored mere value in defining the offense of grand larceny.

¶2But in the offense of embezzlement the feature of value is preserved. “Every person guilty of embezzlement is punishable in the manner prescribed for feloniously stealing property of the value [not, as I conceive, of the mere description or character] of that embezzled, ’ ’ etc.: Section 514. Now, it is set forth in the indictment that the value of the mare, which is the subject of the embezzlement charged, did not exceed *58the stun of fifty dollars, and yet the judgment of the court below which is now affirmed here is that the prisoner be imprisoned in the penitentiary as though the mare had been stolen instead of embezzled. If the embezzlement of the mare in question be a felony regardless of her actual value, for the reason that she might have been stolen, and if stolen, the stealing would have been a felony, then the embezzlement of any trinket or article of wearing apparel, however small its value, will also be a felony, for the reason that it, too, might have been stolen from the person of its owner, in which case it would have constituted grand larceny per se.

¶3Without now entering upon a more extended discussion of the question, I must dissent from the opinion and judgment of the majority in this case.

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