A. FINLAYSON, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, DEFENDANT IN ERROR

Fla. | 1903-06-01
Carter, P. J., and Maxwell, J., concur., Taylor, C. J., and Hocicer and Shackleford, JJ., concur in this opinion.
46 Fla. 81 Florida Supreme Court (1903) Positive Treatment
Cited by 26 cases

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Synopsis

A. Finlayson was convicted of larceny after fraudulently inducing two men to deposit money with him for safekeeping while intending to appropriate it. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, holding that obtaining possession through fraud with intent to appropriate constitutes larceny at common law, regardless of the embezzlement statute.


Holding

The court held that fraudulently obtaining possession with intent to appropriate constitutes larceny at common law. Because there was no true consent—the owners intended only to part with bare possession while Finlayson intended to acquire the property itself—the fraud vitiated any right acquired through the apparent voluntary parting with possession, making the act larceny under common law principles.


Key Quotes

“A bailee who has lawful possession can not commit larceny; the possession, however, must have been originally obtained lawfully and without the intent to appropriate the property to his own use; one who obtains the possession by trick, device or fraud with intent to appropriate the property to his own use, the owner intending to part with the possession only, commits larceny when he subsequently appropriates it.”

This is the charge given by the trial court that the defendant challenged; the appellate court upheld its correctness

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Facts & Procedural History

Finlayson fraudulently induced two African American men to deposit their money with him for overnight safekeeping, intending from the beginning to app…

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Opinion of the Court
Cockrell, J.

Cockrell, J.

J. — The plaintiff in error was convicted of the crime of larceny^ and to review the sentence passed thereon has prosecuted this writ of error. The first three assignments of error go to the refusal of the court to give certain specific instructions. The bill of exceptions shows that these were refused because they were sufficiently given in the general charge, and as it affirmatively appears that’ only a portion of this general charge is before us, we can not say they were not so given. Younglove v. Knox, 44 Fla. 743, 33 South. Rep. 427.

The fourth, fifth and eighth assignments seek to present for consideration the propriety of remarks alleged to have been made by the court in the presence of the jury, but the bill of exceptions does not show that such remarks were made. The assertion thereof in the motion for a new trial is insufficient. McCune v. State, 42 Fla. 192, 27 South. Rep. 867.

The seventh assignment challenges the correctness of the following charges given by the court: “A bailee who has lawful possession can not commit larceny; the possession, however, must have been originally obtained lawfully and without the intent to appropriate the property to his own use; one who obtains the possession by trick, device or fraud with intent to appropriate the property to his own use, the owner intending to part with the possession only, commits larceny when he subsequently appropriates it.” There was evidence tending to show that the accused fraudulently induced two negroes to deposit their money with him for safe keeping over night, intending from the beginning to appropriate it to his own use. It can not be said, therefore, that the owners ‘'consented” to part with the possession of their money; there was no conventio mentium, the one party intending only to part with the bare possession, the other intending to acquire the property in the thing itself; the consent was not as broad as the taking. The fraud vitiated whatever right might otherwise have been acquired by virtue of the apparent voluntary parting with the possession by those rightfully entitled thereto. Such act was at the common law larceny, and no statute was needed to make it a crime; nor does it come within our embezzlement act. The prime object of this statute is to make criminal certain acts that do not come within the common law definition of larceny, not those acts that were theretofore punishable as such. Taking this view of the object of the statute, we will not hold an act theretofore larcenous to be embraced within its provisions, in the absence of clear words to that effect. Such is not the case before us. The authorities sustaining the charge are abundant. Clark’s Crim. Eaw, p. 250 and cases cited; Bish. Stat. Crimes, sec. 419; 1 Whart. Crim. Law, sec. 1009; Johnson v. People, 113 Ill. 99; State v. Woodruff, 47 Kan. 151, 27 Pac. Rep. 842, S. C. 27 Am. State Rep. 285; Levy v. State, 79 Ala. 259; State v. Williams, 35 Mo. 229; People v. Smith, 23 Cal. 280.

There remains only the sixth assignment, based upon the overruling of the motion for a new trial. We have considered all the grounds in this motion, as it is copied in the bill of exceptions, other than the one numbered 8th, and those questioning the sufficiency of the evidence. We do not consider this 8th ground for the same reason as that given above in the discussion of the fourth, fifth and eighth assignments.

The evidence was sufficient to sustain-the verdict, and the judgment is affirmed.

Carter, P. J., and Maxwell, J., concur. Taylor, C. J., and Hocicer and Shackleford, JJ., concur in this opinion.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (13 total)

  • Ira Fitch v. State, 135 Fla. 361 (Fla. 1938)
    …session of personal property by a trick, device or fraud with intent to appropriate the property to his own use, the owner or custodian intending to part with possession only, commits larceny when he subsequently appropriates it. Finlayson v. State, 46 Fla. 81, 35 So. 203, Wilson v. State, 47 Fla. 118, 36 So. 580; Synes v. State, 78 Fla. 167, 82 So. 778. In Finlayson v. State, supra, it was held that a bailee1, who has lawful possession, cannot submit larceny, provided his possession was lawfully obtaine…
  • Casso v. State, 182 So. 2d 252 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966)
    …One obtaining personal property by trick, device, or fraud, intending to appropriate it, is guilty of “larceny” on subsequent appropriation. Murray v. State, 93 Fla. 706, 112 So. 575; McKinley v. State, 102 Fla. 632, 136 So. 380; Finlayson v. State, 46 Fla. 81, 35 So. 203; Knight v. State, Fla. 1950, 46 So. 2d 497. A person is guilty of larceny who gets possession of money of another by means of fraud or trickery with the preconceived purpose to appropriate the money to his own use, on-the theory that the…
  • Fogler v. State, 96 Fla. 68 (Fla. 1928)
    …te, 108 So. R. 842), but that those steps, together with the objectionable language or conduct, be properly evidenced to this court by the bill of exceptions in a manner other than by a mere recital in the motion for a new trial. Finalyson v. State, 46 Fla. 81, 35 So. R. 203; Baxley v. State, 72 Fla. 228, 72 So. R. 677; Young v. State, 70 Fla. 211, 70 So. R. 19. See also Blocker v. State, 105 So. R. 316; McCune v. State, 42 Fla. 192, 27 So. R. 867; Weightnovel v. State, 46 Fla. 1, 35 So. R. 856. Furtherm…

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