Commonwealth v. Adams
Commonwealth v. Adams
Opinion of the Court
There is no ground for the objection that the principal and the accessory are illegally joined in this indictment. They might have been indicted separately; but Sir Michael Foster says it is the most eligible course that they should be joined in one indictment and tried together. Foster’s Crown Law, 365. And such has long been the general practice.
But to constitute larceny, there must be a taking and a carrying away of personal property, with an intent to steal it. Such intent, in all cases at common law, renders the taking and carrying away felonious. A taking, without a carrying away, or a carrying away, without a taking, is not larceny. For this reason, it has always been held necessary that an indictment for larceny should allege both these acts. And this is not an arbitrary formulary; for, unless both acts are alleged, the offence of larceny is not sufficiently alleged. Those words of art, which the law has appropriated for the description of an offence, cannot be dispensed with in an indictment for the offence. 3 Inst. 107. 2 Hale P. C. 184. 4 Bl. Com. 229, 231. 2 East P. C. 778. 1 Stark. Crim. Pl. c. 6. 2 Hawk. c. 25, § 55. The present in dictment is therefore bad, because'it does not allege a carrying away, by the defendant Adams, of the property alleged to have been stolen and taken by him. It alleges that he “ feloniouslv
We have no doubt that the omission of the word “ away,” in this indictment, was unintentional, and not from a supposition that the insertion of it was needless. But that omission renders the indictment against Adams, the principal, insufficient to sustain a judgment against him. It also renders the indictment insufficient to sustain a judgment against Durant, the accessory, who is charged with having received and concealed the property “ so as aforesaid feloniously stolen, well knowing it to have been stolen, taken and carried away as aforesaid.”
Judgment arrested.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.