State v. Gazell
Missouri Supreme Court
30 Mo. 92 (1860)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Gazell (defendant) entered a horse enclosure, attached a lead to one of the horses, and led the horse away from its original location in an attempt to steal the horse. Gazell was stopped before he left the enclosure. The State of Missouri charged Gazell with horse stealing, a type of larceny. At trial, the judge instructed the jury that Gazell was guilty of horse stealing if Gazell led the horse away from its original location with felonious intent, regardless of whether Gazell succeeded in leading the horse out of the enclosure. Under the common-law definition, larceny required the defendant to both take the owner’s property and carry away that property with the intent to steal it. The jury convicted Gazell, and he was sentenced to prison. Gazell appealed, arguing that he did not commit larceny because he was stopped before he left the enclosure with the horse, meaning that he did not carry away the owner’s property.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Scott, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.