Commonwealth v. Mason
Commonwealth v. Mason
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court. ,
In this record there are two indictments against appellee, to which demurrers were sustained. The Commonwealth appeals in each case. As many of the questions presented are applicable to both cases, we will consider them in one opinion, but separately, and in the order in which they appear in the record.
The first indictment charges that appellee, being a warehouseman engaged in the business of receiving tobacco in store and having in store certain hogsheads of tobacco designated by numbers, borrowed of the Louisville Banking Company a sum of money, to secure the payment of which he executed a receipt to the company for this tobacco, and subsequently fraudulently sold the tobacco to others, without the consent of the banking company and without the return of the certificate. The receipt or certificate, as set forth in the indictment, is as follows:
“ People’s. Tobacco Warehouse, j Louisville, Ky., March 8, 1884. j
“ Received of Louisville Banking Company ten hogs*258 heads of tobacco, in apparent good order, of the corresponding number and marks. Deliverable to bearer upon the return of this receipt, and payment of warehouse charges^ Insured under-policies.
“D. K. MASON & CO.”
The indictment charges that the acts complained of were in violation of the seventh section of an act in relation to warehousemen, approved March 6, 1869.
That section reads : “ That no warehouseman or other person shall sell or encumber, ship, transfer, or in any manner remove beyond his immediate control, any goods, wares, merchandise, produce, commodity, property or chattel, for which a receipt or voucher shall have been given, without the written consent of the person or persons holding such receipt, and the production of the receipt.”
The eighth section provides that any person who shall violate, willfully and knowingly, any one of the provisions of the act or any part of any one of its provisions, shall be fined not exceeding five thousand dollars, and imprisoned in the penitentiary not exceeding five years.
The first question we will consider is whether the act of 1869, upon which the prosecution is based, has been repealed by the General Statutes that went into effect on the first of December, 1873.
The act adopting these statutes provides that all statutes of a general nature in force when the General Statutes go into effect, and which are repugnant thereto, are repealed. This general law in regard to warehouse-
The appropriateness of having the penal clause of an met of a general character prescribing duties, in the body of such an act, appears to have been recognized ■by the Legislature in placing the provisions for punishment of a violation of a law in regard to any specific subject-matter under the general subject designated, instead of under the comprehensive and general head ■of “Crimes and Punishments,” as illustrated by the instances cited from the General Statutes.
It is further insisted for appellee that the demurrer was properly sustained, because the instrument declared ■on is not a warehouse receipt within the meaning of the statute, because the property is made deliverable to “bearer,” instead of to “order.” This seems to be based upon the third section of the act of 1869, which provides that “all receipts issued by any warehouseman, as provided by this act, shall be negotiable and transferable by indorsement in blank, or by special indorsement, and with like liability as bills of exchange now are, and with like remedy thereon.”
The second section of the act prescribes the only
The receipt in this case complies with all the requirements of the last quoted section as to “quantity, quality and kind,” and identifies the property by mark, while the third section says that “all receipts issued by any warehouseman, as provided by this act, shall be negotiable,” etc. The negotiability of the receipt exists-when there is a substantial compliance with the statute as- to description for identification, and it is negotiated by indorsement in blank or by special indorsement. The second section describes the character, of the receipt that shall be negotiable, and the third section provides the manner of negotiation.
The second indictment states that appellee, being engaged in receiving tobacco in store as a warehouse-. man, and in selling tobacco as a factor, had in store a. certain described hogshead of tobacco which he pledged' to the Second National Bank of Louisville for money loaned him, which tobacco appellee subsequently fraudulently sold, without the consent of the bank, and without the return or production of the receipt issued
‘ ‘ People’s Tobacco Warehouse,
D. K. Mason & Co., Proprietors,
Nos. 906, 908, 910, 912 Main Street,
Louisville, Ky., Dec. 19, 1883..
“Received on storage and for sale, from Mr. J. D.. Ryan, one hogshead of tobacco, marked R. & M., No. 62, gross, 1370, tare,. 180, net, 1190, cost, $6.50, amount,. $77.35, which we will deliver to the order of Second. National Bank upon presentation of this certificate.
“ Parties storing cotton with us must effect their own insurance. “D. K. MASON & CO.”
This indictment is not good either under the warehouse act or under the factor’s act, approved May 5, 1880. The warehouse act authorizes a warehouseman to issue a receipt for commodities to the owner or the person from whom such commodities are received, and to issue receipts upon his own property so warehoused. Under that act, a warehouseman has no authority to. issue a receipt to one for the property of another in store with him as warehouseman. The receipt shows that the property did not belong to appellee, that it did not belong to nor was it received from the Second. National Bank, but in terms the receipt recites that it was “received on storage and for sale from J. D. Ryan.” With this notice to the bank, the receipt or certificate was not an instrument that could be used to perpetrate fraud, and, therefore, not within the evil intended to be provided against by the warehouse act.
Is the indictment good under the factor’s act? We
The seventh section of that act provides that any such factor or agent who shall sell any merchandise intrusted to him “with the intent to defraud the true owner,” shall be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, and confined in the penitentiary not exceeding five years.
The indictment is defective under this act because it does not allege that the property was held as factor, the ownership, or that the property was disposed of by appellee with the intent to defraud the true owner, but, on the contrary, the indictment charges that the property was sold by appellee with the intent to defraud the Second National Bank, besides, upon the face of the receipt there was notice to the bank that appellee was acting, in pledging the property, beyond the scope of his authority, and there was no evidence on the receipt that there were any charges or advancement which would have authorized the pledge.
Judgment is reversed as to the first indictment, and affirmed as to the second.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.