Regina v. Riley
England and Wales Court of Appeal, Criminal Division
169 Eng. Rep. 674 (1853)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Charles Riley (defendant) went to John Clarke and asked to place his 29 black-faced lambs in Clarke’s field for the night, at a cost of one penny per lamb. Clarke agreed. Also in Clarke’s field were 10 white-faced lambs belonging to John Burnside. The following morning, Burnside noticed that one of his lambs was missing and that all of Riley’s lambs were gone. Earlier that morning, Riley had gone to John Calvert and asked him to purchase his 29 lambs. After Calvert looked the lambs over, he noticed that there were 30 lambs. Riley agreed to sell all 30 lambs which were purchased by Calvert. Riley was indicted for larceny. At trial, Riley argued that the original taking of one of Burnside’s lambs was done by mistake and that if Riley did not have felonious intent at the time of that taking, there was no crime of larceny. Riley was convicted of larceny because the wrongful taking was at the time Burnside’s lamb was pointed out to him by Calvert. Riley appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pollock, J.)
Concurrence (Parke, J.)
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