Larceny
idea · 3 works · 4 mentions · 8 anchored passages
larceny · felony · animus furandi · felonia · the definition of larceny at common law · theft
in the texts
The Law of Torts
The common-law criminal offence of theft, discussed for its relation to and difference from the civil wrongs of trespass and conversion.
The best proof that such is the law is the existence of the offence of receiving stolen goods as distinct from theft;
Where the possession is changed the trespass is an asportation (from the old form of pleading, cepit et asportavit for inanimate chattels, abduxit for animals), and may amount to the offence of theft.
though as regards the possibility of the wrong-doer being criminally liable it may still be a vital question, trespass by taking and carrying away the goods being a necessary element in the offence of larceny at common law.
The Genius of the Common Law
The archaic, obscurely defined common-law crime of larceny, singled out as the worst example of confused terminology traced to Bracton's misunderstood adaptation of Roman terms.
The worst example in this kind is the definition of larceny at common law;
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John
The category of serious criminal offense whose punishment included forfeiture of the offender's lands and chattels.
The Crown had established certain rights, not too well defined, in the property of criminals formally indicted and sentenced for felony.
Nos non tenebimus terras illorum qui convicti fuerint de felonia, nisi per unum annum et unum diem, et tunc reddantur terre dominis feodorum.
We will not retain beyond one year and one day, the lands of those who have been convicted of felony, and the lands shall thereafter be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.