Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/256

 24.2 FEDKBAIi EBPOBTER. �them to his hotne, and raade a division with his associates, tliis, as a matter of law, raises a presumption against him of fraudulent intent in the taking." �And alBO refused the following asked by the defendant : �"(1) Lareeny is the felonious taking and earrying away the personal goods or chattels of another. In order to.eonstitute this oiience there must first be a taking from the possession, either actual or constructive, of the owner; and such taking must be felonious — that is, with the speoifi(y intent on the part of the taker to deprive the true owner thereof. Furthermore, before the tak- ing as above defined can be regarded as felonious, it must be without color of right or claim on the part of the taker. �"(2) if a man takes the goods of another under the honest belief, however ill founded, that he has a right to do so, he is not guilty of lareeny or stealing, and cannot be convicted, under thia statute, of stealing, by reason of such taking. �"(3) As a raie every man is conclusively presumed to know the law, and cannot excuse his unlawful act because he was ignorant it was unlawful ; but this general rule has many exceptions. Among these exceptions is the case where a man takes goods under a mtsapprehension of his legal rights, and he cannot be convicted of stealing them. In such case there is the absence of spe- cifie intent to steal, which is an indispensable element of lareeny. �"(5) If the jury find that defendant took goods in the river floating from the wreck, as stated in the above charge, with lawful intent, and subsequently determined to appropriate said goods to his own use, and did so, nevertheless he cannot be convicted under this indictment of the offenee of stealing goods belonging to the steamer Vicksburgh. In other words, the taking of the prop- erty and the intent to steal it must be cotemporaneous, one with the other. �^'(6) The court further charges you that if the articles which the defendant is charged in the indictment with stealing were taken by him whilst they were floating in the water, at the time when they had escaped from the custody and control of the crew of said steamer, then the defendant cannot be convicted of stealing goods belonging to the said steamer, as is charged in the fourth count of the indictment, unless you find that at the time of such taking that he knew such goods belonged to said steamer, and at the time of such taking intended to steal them. �"(7) In order to find the defendant guilty on the first and second counts of this indictment, which respectively charge the defendant with pluudering and stealing the articles mentioned in said counts from the steamer Vicks- burgh, before you can convict him you must find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that said articles were taken from some part of said steamer. If they were floating in the water, separate from the wreck, they were not taken from the steamer, and the defendant muSt be acqaitted of the charge contained in the flrst and second couuts. �"(8) The court charges you that when you corne to consider of your verdict it is your duty to take up in their order each of the counts contained in the indictment. If you flnd him not guilty of the first count, you should then consider whether he be guilty on the second count, and so On with each suc- ceeding count to the end. If you flnd him guilty on any count,, you should state in your verdict under what count you so flnd him guiity. ��� �