R v Benjamin Walsh, Esq. M. P
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 14 February 1812 |
| Date | 14 February 1812 |
| Court | Exchequer |
English Reports Citation: 128 E.R. 328
IN THE EXCHEQUER-CHAMBER AND AT SERJEANT'S INN
328 MANLEY V. TATTERSALL 4 TAUNT. 257. [257] MANLEY, Plaintiff; TATTERSALL AND WIFE, Deforciants. Feb. 12, 1812. Fine amended by inserting the word advowson, the word rectory being thought insufficient. Lens Sarjt. moved to amend a fine by inserting the word advowson after the word rectory. It was at first apprehended that the word rectory would suffice ; but a doubt having arisen as to that point, it was wished to insert the word advowson. The deed declaring the uses of the flue contains the words advowson, donative, &c. Per Curiam. Be it so. [258] REX V. BENJAMIN WALSH, ESQ. M.P. In the Exchequer-Chamber, 1st Feb., and at Serjeant's Inn, 14th Feb. 1812. A stockbroker having advised a proprietor of stock as to the proper time of disposing of it, sold the stock for him, and received the proceeds. The principal instructed him to purchase exchequer bills to the amount, but it being too late an hour on that day, the broker lodged the money with his own bankers, and gave the bankers of his principal a check for the amount. On the following day the principal drew a check on his bankers for a larger sum, and gave it to the broker to purchase exchequer bills. The broker received of them b uik bills for the cheek; with a part he bought exchequer bills for his principal, and delivered them to the bankers of the principal, and with part of the residue he paid for American stock and foreign coin, which he had previously purchased with intention to abscond, and paid away the rest in discharge of other debts of his own, and absconded. Held that this was no felony. The prisoner was tried at the Old Bailey Sessions, held January 1812, before Macdonald C. B. The first count of the indictment charged him with stealing twenty-two Bank of England notes, for the payment of 10001. each, and of the value of 10001. each, and one other for the payment of 2001., the property of Sir Thomas Plumer. There were other counts, some describing the property to be a bill of exchange for the payment of 22,2001., and of the value of 22,2001., and others describing it to be a warrant for the payment of the like sum and of the like value, the same being the property of the said Sir T. Plumer, and the said sum of money, for the payment whereof they were made, being due thereon to the said Sir T. Plumer, the proprietor thereof, against the form of the statute, &c. The jury found the prisoner guilty, and that he received the draft of Sir T. Plumer with a fraudulent design of appropriating a part of its proceeds to his own use. A question was reserved for the consideration of the Judges, whether, under this finding, and the circumstances of the case, the offence amounted to felony. The circumstances were, that the prisoner was a stock-broker, and had for some years been employed in that capacity by the prosecutor. In the month of July 1811 the prosecutor communicated to the prisoner that he had purchased an estate, and should have occasion to sell stock to pay for it by the 28th of September, when the purchase was to be completed ; and he consulted the prisoner, [259] whom he was in the habit of consulting respecting the most advantageous way of investing his property, whether he should then sell out, or wait until the period when the money was to be paid. The stocks were at that time very low, and the prisoner advised him to postpone the sale, which he accordingly did, requesting the prisoner to apprize him of such changes as might occur in the state of the market. In October, the title not being yet completed, he again consulted the prisoner on the same point, who repeated the same advice, although the stocks had materially risen in the mean time ; assigning as a reason, that the commissioners for liquidating the national debt would in November increase their purchases, which circumstance was likely then to have a favourable effect on the funds, About the 25th of November the prisoner learning that many persons had bought largely into the funds, on the same speculation on which he had himself relied, anticipated a fall, and wrote to the prosecutor advising him of this opinion, and of the fact that the stocks would shut on the 3d of December, in order that the sale might be previously made. He shortly after called on the prosecutor, and stated the same thing. The prosecutor requested him to obtain further information, and on the 29th of November 4 TAUNT. 260. REX v. WALSH 329 requested the prisoner, if he continued in the same way of thinking, to make any bargain with respect to the stock, which he thought proper. In consequence of which, the price of the stock having already begun to fall, the prisoner on that day contracted for the sale of the stock, and represented to the prosecutor that it was to be completed on the 2d of December, but no precise day was in truth fixed by the purchaser. The prosecutor not finding it convenient sooner to attend at the bank, completed the transfer on the 5th ; but not having instant occasion for the money, be asked the prisoner whether he had not better invest it in exchequer bills, which the prisoner recorn-[260]- mended him to do. The prisoner on that day received the whole proceeds of the stock : upon his alleging that it was too late an hour for the purchase of exchequer bills on that day, he was directed by the prosecutor to pay it to Messrs. Goslings, the prosecutor's bankers, to his account. The prisoner paid it to Robarts and Co. his own hankers, and gave Messrs. Goslings a check on Robarts for the amount, 21,5001. On the following day he waited on the prosecutor, who gave him a check on Goslings for 22,2001., to be invested in exchequer bills, which were to be brought back to the prosecutor the same day, but did not accompany the delivery with any express stipulation that the money should be paid to Goslings. The prisoner, who was in great pecuniary embarrassments, had, as it appeared from some of his letters which were intercepted, and were read in evidence, meditated to emigrate to America ; and in order to raise the means, intended to have appropriated to his own use a large sum with which he expected tc, be intrusted about this time by a person named Oldham, for the purpose of purchasing stock, and with this view he had on the 29th of November, applied to an American broker to procure him American stock, of such sort as would be most useful to a person going to America, to the value of 10,0001.; and appointed to pay for it on the 4th or 5th of December ; be had also on the 2d of December applied to a dealer in foreign coin to procure him a considerable sum of Portugal gold co tt ; but Oldham on the 3d December gave him only 15001. to be invested in stock, instead of the large sum he expected ; that sum therefore being insufficient to pay for the American stock, the prisoner abandoned his design, and he applied the sum in purchasing stock for Oldham, as directed. He received of Goslings, on the 5th of December, payment of the check given him by the prosecutor, and on the same day, with part of that money, he purchased 65001. exchequer bills, and with the residue he paid [261] for the American stock, and discharged several other debts of his own. He lodged the exchequer bills at Goslings' for the prosecutor's account, carried him Goslings' receipt for them, and told him that he bad purchased of Messrs. Coutts exchequer bills for the residue of the amount, but that Trotter, a partner in Coutts's bank, who was then absent from London, had them under his own key, and would not return to deliver them till the following Saturday. He represented that he had repaid. into Goslings' bands, to remain there for the mean time, the residue of the prosecutor's money. He had on the morning of the 5th brought with him from the country where he usually slept, a portmanteau of linen and other necessaries with which he had provided himself without the knowledge of his family ; and on the same day he purchased some stockings in London, saying he was going out of town ; and having after these transactions taken possession of the foreign gold coin and American securities, he set out for Falmouth in the mail, in which he had previously secured a place under a fictitious name, intending to embark for Lisbon in a packet, which according to the regular course would sail the day after his arrival, and thence to pass over to Amel ice. He left with his clerk a note addressed to the prosecutor, purporting to bear date on Saturday the 7th of December, and stating that the business could not be finished till the following Monday ; by the delivery of which note upon the Saturday, he hoped to gain more time. The bank notes, for stealing which this indictment was preferred, were intended to be the notes paid to the prisoner by Messrs. Goslings in discharge of the prosecutor's check on them payable to the prisoner for 22,2001., and the bill of exchange, and the warrant also charged in the indictment, were intended to be descriptive of that check. The case was argued in the Exchequer-chamber before eleven Judges, Lawrence J. being absent, by [262] Scarlett for the prisoner. He addressed himself in the first place to the counts on the bill of exchange and the warrant for the payment of money, which he contended could not be supported. The statute 2 G. 2, c. 25, s. 3, enacts, " that if any person or persons shall steal any bills of exchange, or warrants for the payment C. P. vi.-115 33d REX V. WALSH 4 TAUNT. 263. of any money, &c. being the property of any other person, they shall be deemed guilty of felony of the same nature and in the same degree, and with or without benefit of clergy, in the same manner as it would have been if the offender bad stolen any other goods of like value with the money due on such bills or warrants, or secured thereby, and remaining unsatisfied." This statute has been considered as...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
John Kasaipwalova v The State
...fraudulent misappropriation, the Bankers Embezzlement Act of 1812 51 George III, c63, passed as a result of the decision in R v Walsh (1812) 4 Taunt 258; 128 ER 328; 2 Leach 1054, 168 ER 624; Russ and Ry 215, 168 ER 767. The reasons for decision appear only in the report by Russell and Ryan......
-
Public Prosecutor v Lam Leng Hung and others
...country” (United Kingdom, House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates (25 February 1812) vol 21 at col 943). This was the case of R v Walsh (4 Taunton 258), in which a stockbroker who misappropriated moneys entrusted to him had been acquitted on the basis that he was neither a clerk nor a serva......
-
R v John Minter Hart
...before his face; but I beg leave to set those right who thiak so. The next ease that I would refer to is that of Mr. Walsh (2 Leach, 1054; 4 Taunt. 258 ; R. & R. C. C. R. 215). In that case, Mr. Walsh, who was a stockbroker, received bank notes at Messrs GoslingXfor the check of his princip......
-
R v Francis Metcalf
...from the report of Rex v. Walsh, in Russell & Ryan's cases, 215, in which it is said that the Judges so held (Same case, 2 Leach, 1054; 4 Taunt 258 ) This case was considered at a meeting of the Judges, in Easter term, 1835, by Lord Denman C J , Tindal C J , Park J , Littledale J , Gaselee ......