Recent Judicial Decisions
| Published date | 01 January 1954 |
| Date | 01 January 1954 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X5402700102 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
RECENT
JUDICIAL
DECISIONS
9
in their several spheres
of
duty, may be
brought
to an even higher
state
of
efficiency
than
has
yet been shown.
Recent Judicial Decisions
OFFENCE
OF
RECEIVING
STOLEN
'PROPERTY'
CHANGED
INTO
MONEY
D'Andrea v. Woods
An unusual illustration
of
the scope
of
the
offence
of
"receiving" is
provided by D'Andrea v. Woods (1953, 1
w.L.
R. 1307).
The
definition
of
"property"
in section 46 (1)
of
the Larceny Act1916 tells us
that
that
term
includes
not
only
any
description
of
real
and
personal
property
but
also
"not
only such
property
as has been originally in
the
possession or
under
the
control
of
any
person,
but
also
any
property
into
or for which
the
same has been converted
or
exchanged,
and
anything
acquired by such conversion or exchange, whether immedi-
ately or otherwise".
The
reason why charges in respect
of
stolen
property
which has been converted into money are
not
more
frequent
than
they seem to be in the
courts
is, no
doubt,
the
difficulty
of
proving
that
particular sums
of
money have been derived from
particular
goods stolen or received.
In the recent case a quantity
of
savings
stamps
were stolen by two
girls who converted
them
into cash
and
handed
the
appellant
the sum
of
£4 lOs. in
Bank
of
England notes which were
part
of
the
proceeds
of
the theft.
The
appellant
admitted
that
at the time he received the
notes he knew
that
they were
part
of
the
proceeds
of
the stolen stamps.
He was convicted
of
receiving money knowing it to be stolen,
contrary
to section 33
of
but
appealed on the
grounds
that
the
bank
notes were the proceeds
of
stolen
property
and
were
not
themselves stolen,
and
that
therefore
the
charge
could
not
be sustained.
It
was held
that
the £4 lOs. in notes which he had received fell within
the definition in section 46 (1)
of
the Act
and
that
as the
appellant
knew
that
the notes
had
been acquired by theft he
had
been
properly
convicted.
SCOPE
OF
LARCENY:
WHEN
PROPERTY
FORMS
PART
OF THE
REALTY
Billing v. Pill
By section 1
of
the Larceny Act1916 everything which has value
and
if adhering to the realty then after severance
therefrom
shall be
capable
of
being stolen provided
that
"anything
attached
to or forming
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