55 Fla. 140 | Fla. | 1908
Lead Opinion
—Upon application of the plaintiff in error, it being made satisfactorily to appear, that the omission of the motion for new trial from the bill of exceptions was due wholly to an accidental and mechanical misplacing of the pages of the transcript, a correction has been allowed and a rehearing granted.
There was evidence from which the jury was permitted to find the following facts: Mrs. Henderson, the wife of the prosecuting witness, by accident, put into the basket containing soiled clothes, a cloth bag containing over two thousand dollars in paper money, which was delivered to her laundress, Lilly Neal. Upon open
In Finlayson v. State, 46 Fla. 81, 35 South. Rep. 203, we held that one who obtains possession by trick, device or fraud with intent at the time to appropriate the property to his own use, the owner intending to part with the possession only, may be guilty of larceny, but in Wilson v. State, 47 Fla. 118, 36 South. Rep. 580, we refused to interfere with a conviction of embezzlement, there being sufficient in the evidence upon which to base a finding- that the original taking was innocent and that the felonious intent was formed after the possession was innocently acquired.
In the case now before us, no trespass of any kind was committed by Lilly when she discovered her accidental custody of the money and her intent at once to restore that custody to the rightful owner was manifested and declared. So far the case lies clearly on the side of embezzlement rather than of larceny, see Queen v. Ashwell, 6 Q. B. Div. 190, but does it yet measure up fully to the crime of which conviction was had?
In Tipton v. State, 53 Fla. 69, 43 South. Rep. 684, we said that one who is not lawfully the agent or servant of another and does not pretend or hold himself out to be such, and holds no relation of trust or confidence towards his alleged principal or master, is not within the statute. Tipton was indicted on two counts, in the one for embezzling from R. A. Lamb, and in the other from the Express Company, and was convicted of the
Lilly Neal acquired the custody of the cloth bag containing the roll of money, only by virtue of her employment. We may admit that possession in its narrow, technical sense was never rightfully hers, but that admission does not help. Our statute is much broader than that of other states and includes whatever may have come into an employe’s possession, care, custody or control by reason of his employment. The statute is not in terms restrictive to a conscious act on the part of the owner or employer and there is here present the conscious act on the part of the employe voluntarily accepting for a time the custodianship of the money recognizing her obligation to return it to its rightful owner, for whom she was then holding it, a self-imposed but accepted bailment, so to speak, imposed only by reason of the fact that the holder was entrusted with employment by the owner and thereby had secured possession of the larger receptacle that contained the soiled clothes, as also the bag of money.
A search of the authorities has given us little or no assistance, because of the more limited definition of embezzlement usually obtaining. A close consideration of our own statute, however, leads us to the conclusion that the peculiar facts of this case come within its condemnation and that the verdict is not against the evidence.
The judgment is affirmed.
Shackleford, C. J., and Whitfield, J., concur;
Hocker, J., concurs in the opinion.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting.)—After mature reflection
I cannot conceive of such a state of things as a. trust accidentally and unintentionally reposed by one person in another. Trust and distrust are both active sentiments and cannot be exercised passively, accidentally or unintentionally. I think the facts in proof make a case only of larceny here and not embezzlement. Commonwealth v. Hays, 14 Gray (Mass.) 62, S. C. 74 Am. Dec. 662.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting.)—I think all the authorities without exception hold that the gist of the offense of embezzlement is a breach of trust, and the provisions of the statute do not apply to appropriation of property by a person, unless he held a relation of confidence or trust towards the owner, and had possession of the property by virtue of such relation, and converted it in violation of the trust reposed in him. Tipton v. State, 53 Fla. 69, 43 South. Rep. 684.
In writing of the confidence of the defrauded person in the one embezzling, Mr. Bishop says: “The leading doctrine of this sub-title is that the statutes are for the protection of employers against the frauds of those in whom they háve confided; and where» no confidence. is reposed, and none is violated, the offense is not committed.” 1 Bishop’s New Crim. Law (8th ed.) §352. Mr. Clark says: “The gist of the offense is a breach of trust,, and it is held that the statutes do not apply to the appropriation of property by any person unless he held a -relation of confidence or trust towards the owner, and had possession of the property b)*- virtue of such relation, and converted it in violation of the trust reposed in him.”
I am of the opinion that the breach of trust or violation of confidence here contemplated must have been intentionally reposed by one party and voluntarily assumed by the other. See Commonwealth v. Hays, 14 Gray (Mass.) 62, S. C. 74 Am. Dec. 662. In the Hays’ case the court held that where property delivered through mistake has been misappropriated or converted by the ■party receiving it, there is no breach of a trust or violation of a confidence intentionally reposed by one party and voluntarily assumed by the other.
Our statute provides that if any servant embézzles, or fraudulently disposes of, or converts to his own use, or takes or secretes with intent so to do anything of value which has been entrusted to him shall be punished as if he had been convicted of larceny. I do not think any one could entrust anything to another through mistake. To entrust is to commit with confidence, give in trust, confide, to place in charge, to commit something to as a trust.
The other clause of our statutes, “or has come into his possession, care, custody or control by reason of his employment,” is equivalent to the preceding clause, “which has been entrusted to him.” The words “by reason of his employment” must have reference to the property which came into his possession, care, custody or control and which was embezzled.
In Hughes’ Crim. Law & Proc. section 493, the author says: “In order to constitute the crime of embezzlement it is necessary that the property embezzled should come lawfully into the hands of the party embezzling, and by virtue of the position of trust he occupies to the person whose property he takes.” In section 496, the same -author says: “Before embezzlement can be maintained it must appear that the property was delivered to the accused in some fiduciary capacity—a relation of trust and confidence.” The very property converted, then, must have been delivered to the accused. in a fiduciary capacity to make him guilty of embezzlement. The property converted, the bag of money, was not delivered to the accused in a. fiduciary capacity. It was not delivered to the accused at all. The soiled clothes were delivered to the accused, and the money was taken with the clothes by mistake. The owner of the money did not intend that the defendant should take the money, only the clothes.