R v David White
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1853 |
| Date | 01 January 1853 |
| Court | High Court |
English Reports Citation: 169 E.R. 696
IN THE COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH AND THE COURTS OF ERROR
S. C. 3 Car. & Kir. 363; 32 L J M. C 123, 21 L. T. O. S. 159; 17 J. P. 391; 17 Jur. 536; 1 W. R. 418, 1 C. L. R 489; 6 Cox C C. 213. Approved, Erie County Natural Gas and Fuel Co v Carroll, [1911] A C 105.
[203] 1853. regina v. david white (tt appeared that the prisoner, without the knowledge or consent of a gas company, caused to be inserted a connecting pipe, with a stop-cock upon it, into the entrance and exit pipes, and extending between them And the entrance pipe being charged with the company's gas, he shut the stop-cock of the meter, and so consumed the gas without its passing through the meter Held, That the prisoner was properly convicted of larceny, and that there was a sufficient severance of the gas in the entrance pipe to constitute an aspoitamt) [S. C. 3 Car. & Kir. 363 ; 22 L J M. C 123 , 21 L. T. 0. S. 159 ; 17 J. P. 391 ; 17 Jur. 536 ; 1 W. R. 418 , 1 (J. L R 489 ; 6 Cox C C. 213. Approved, Erie County Natural Gas and Fuel Co v Carroll, [1911] & G 105.] The prisoner was convicted at the Berwick-upon-Tweed Sessions, in April, 1853, subj'ect to the opinion of the Court, upon the following case .- The prisoner was indicted at the last Quarter Sessions for Berwick-upcm-Tweed, lor stealing 5000 cubic feet of carburetted hydrogen gas, of the goods, chattels and property of Robert Oswald and others. Mr. Oswald was a partner in the Berwick Gas Company, and the prisoner, a householder in Berwick, had contracted with the company for the supply of his house with gas, to be paid for by meter. The meter which was hired by the prisoner of the company, was connected with an entrance pipe through which it received the gas from the company's main in the street, and an exit pipe through which the gas was conveyed to the burners The prisoner had the control of the stop-cock at the meter, by which the gas was admitted into it through the entrance pipe, and he only paid the company, and had only to pay them for such quantity of gas as appeared by the index on the rneter to have passed through it The entrance and exit pipes were the property of the prisoner The prisoner, to avoid paying for the full quantity of gas consumed, and without the knowledge or consent of the company, had caused to be inserted a connecting pipe with a stop-cock upon it, into the entrance and exit pipes, and extending between them ; and the entrance pipe being charged with the gas of the company, he shut the stop-cock at the meter, so that gas could [204] not pass into it, and opened the stop-cock in the connecting pipe, when a portion of the gas ascended through the connecting pipe into the exit pipe, and from thence to the burners, and the gas was consumed there, and the gas continued so to ascend and be consumed, until by shutting the stop-cock in the connecting pipe the supply was cut off. And this operation was proved to have taken place at a time specified by the prosecutor. It was contended for the prisoner that the entrance pipe into which the gas passed from the main being the property of the...
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