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59 Dick. L. Rev. 377 (1954-1955)
The Value of the Subject Matter of Larceny

handle is hein.journals/dlr59 and id is 393 raw text is: NOTES THE VALUE OF THE SUBJECT MATTER OF LARCENY In order that property may be the subject matter of larceny, at common law, it must have had a definite value.' The exact measure of this value that was neces- sary was never fixed, and, consequently, much discretion was left in the hands of the courts, in determining whether a thing was of sufficient value to be the sub- ject of the crime of larceny. This requirement has survived the many changes that have taken place in the law and is today still essential to a conviction for larceny wherever the common law controls, and in many cases where the indictment is under a statute controlling larceny. One authority asserts: Inasmuch as larceny cannot, at common law, be committed of things that have no value, it is essential, except und'er statutes making the taking of a particular thing larceny irrespective of value, that it be shown that the property stolen had some value.2 Another authority indicates that value is a requirement for an indictment for larceny. It notes that only when a statute makes something the subject of larceny irrespective of value is this not a requirement.3 There is almost unanimous case support for the statements made in these volumes. The court in a North Carolina case decided in 1815, said: An indictment which charges a person with stealing a thing desti- tute of both intrinsic and artificial value, cannot be supported. - An indictment, therefore, which charged the defendant with larceny for stealing a one-half ten-shilling bill for the currency of the state was quashed. The court said that the state currency was worthless, that is, had no value, so the indictment fell.4 An Oklahoma court, in 1904, said that the subject matter of larceny had to have value, but what that value is, is only material when the offens'e is graded by the value. The court added, however, that some value is always neces- sary.5 Larceny in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has very few cases which deal with the value of the subject matter of larceny, but these few clearly indicate that the common law of this state requires that a thing to be the subject of the crime of larceny must have value.6 In Pennsylvania there are several statutes which make the taking of specific things the subject of larceny, and there is one general statute which, in effect, reenacts the common law in this state. The statute recites: Whoever commits larceny is guilty of a felony, and shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding two thousand 1 Stephen, History of the Criminal Law of England, vol. 3, p. 142. 2 32 Am. Jur. 1034. 8 36 C.J. 856 and 883. 4 State v. Bryant, 4 N.C. 249 (1815). 6 Woodring v. Territory, 14 Okla. 250, 78 Pac. 85 (1904). 6 Commonwealth v. Eichelberger, 119 Pa. 254 (1888); Commonwealth v. White, 133 Pa. 182 (1890); Commonwealth v. Depuy, 148 Pa. 201, 23 At!. 896 (1892).

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