69 Wis. 203 | Wis. | 1887
The plaintiff in error was prosecuted and convicted of the crime of burglary. A motion in arrest of
Now, the contention of the learned counsel for the plaintiff in error is that breaking and entering a structure in the process of constniction, as the building in question was described to be, is not included within the statute. It will be observed the provision quoted makes the breaking and entry in the night-time of “ any office, shop, warehouse, or other building not adjoining or occupied with any dwelling-house.,” with intent, etc., one grade of burglary. But it is said a structure which is unfinished, unfit for occupation for the purpose for which it was designed, is not a building, within the meaning of the statute. But, on considering the objects of the statute, we are fully satisfied that the word “ building,” as used therein, does not necessarily mean a structure so far completed as to be in all respects fit for the purpose for which it was intended. It doubtless does mean an edifice or structure erected upon land, and so far completed that it may be used temporarily or permanently for the occupation or shelter of man or beast, or for the storage of tools or other personal property for safe-keeping. Webster defines the word “ building” as “a fabric or edifice constructed; a thing built.” Worcester defines it, “a structure or edifice;” the Imperial Dictionary, “a fabric or edifice constructed for use or convenience, as a house, church, shop.” In La Crosse & M. R. Co. v. Vanderpool, 11 Wis. 121, Mr. Justice Paine says: “ The well-understood meaning of the word is a structure which has a capacity to contain, and is
But counsel refers, in support of his construction of the statute, to the cases of Elsmore v. St. Briavells, 8 Barn. & C. 461; State v. McGowan, 20 Conn. 245; McGary v. People, 45 N. Y. 153. Elsmore v. St. Briavells was an action against the hundred to recover satisfaction for damages sustained for setting fire to a building intended for and constructed as a dwelling-house, but which had not been completed or inhabited, and in which the owner had deposited straw and agricultural implements. The act gave the action against the hundred where the fire consumed a house, barn, or outhouse. It was held the building in that case was not a dwelling-house, though it was intended for one; nor was it an outhouse or barn, within the meaning of the statute, so as to entitle the owner to maintain the action against the hundred. Bayley, J., says: “The hundred are liable to make satisfaction to the party injured by the burning of a house, outhouse, or barn, provided a capital offense be committed against that statute by such burning. This building was not a barn, within the meaning of that word as used in the statute; though the house had been applied to the pur
These cases furnish but little aid in the construction of our own statutes, for it is obvious, as Mr. Bishop remarks, that the word “ building,” in a statute, will almost always depend for its meaning, in some degree, on the particular subject, and its connection with other words. St. Crimes, § 292. And while, as the assistant attorney general suggests, it may be difficult to say at what time a structure in process of construction presents such a degree or state of completion as that it may be described as a building in the sense of the statute, still we think the edifice in question may be properly denominated a building, within the meaning of sec. 4109. In the connection in which the word is used it cannot import a finished structure ready for use, as a residence, for the words are, “ any other building not adjoining or occupied with a dwelling-house.” The other building was a structure different from a dwelling-house, as those words were used in this and the two preceding sections. We think the provision was intended to include any building not within the curtilage,' in which property might
In Orrell v. People, 94 Ill. 456, in an indictment for break
It is further claimed that, if the structure was a building, it did not belong to the class covered or intended to be covered by sec. 4409. We have already said that the section embraced an unfinished dwelling-house in the state the one in question was,— a structure which could or might be used for the habitation of man or animals, or in which personal property might be temporarily stored. This sufficiently disposes of this point. We cannot see that the maxim noseitur a soeiis has any application to the case; for the language is broad enough to include any building of any kind which is not adjoining to or occupied with a dwelling-house, for.
There is abundant evidence to sustain the verdict. This disposes of all the material questions in the case.
By the Court.— The judgment of the municipal court is affirmed.