51 Ga. App. 202 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1935
The defendant, Ivey Grace, was found guilty under an accusation for larceny which alleged that the articles stolen were the personal goods of “North Highland Grocery Company.” The proof was that the property alleged to have been stolen was the property of Arthur Stamm. Stamm testified: “I operate' the store which is operated under the name of the North Highland Grocery. There is no company of the name used, and the business is not incorporated. It is all my property.” The ownership of property alleged to he stolen must be alleged in the indictment, “to the end that the court may judicially determine that the property alleged to have been stolen was not in fact the property of the accused, that he was not entitled to the possession thereof, and that the taking and carrying away were wrongful; and also for the further purpose of apprising the accused of the exact offense with which he is charged and to enable him to prepare to meet his defense on the trial.” Houghton on Criminal Procedure (10th ed.), 1212, § 856.
The name North Highland Grocery Company imports a corporation and under the allegations of the accusation it would not have been subject to demurrer relative to the ownership of the property. It has been held in Mattox v. State, 115 Ga. 212 (7) (41 S. E. 709), that “where in an indictment for larceny the ownership of the goods alleged to have been stolen is laid in a name [Acme Brewing Co.] which imports a corporation, the presumption is that it is the name of a corporation, and it is not necessary even as against a special demurrer to allege the fact of incorporation.” It would have been otherwise if the name imported either a corporation or a part
We think that under the law and facts of the case, the variance between the allegation and the proof of ownership was of such a material character that a new trial should be granted.
Judgment reversed.