Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/260

 246 PEDEEAL BBPOBTER. �broad enough to cover not only a taking by larceny, but any other wrongful taking. If we admit that the facts in this case do not con- Btitute larceny, or that those do not which are mentioned in State v. Conway, supra, where an iron safe belonging to a wrecked vessel was taken from the river and its contents appropriated after notice of their ownership, under circumstances, said by the supreme court of Missouri, to show that the perpetrators were "unmindful of the duties of good and honest men," I am still of opinion that either case falls within this statute, because, if not stealing in the sense of the com- mon law, it was plundering, as known to this statute; if not in the Conway Case, oertainly in this, where the distressed vessel was almost in sight and the goods were eonfessedly known to belong to her. �Mr. Stephen says of this word "plunder" that he does not know that it has any special legal signification. Steph. Dig. Crim. Law, (St. Louis Ed. 1878,) 261, 266, and notes. The lexicographers define it as that which is taken from an enemy by force : "spoil;" "rapine;" "booty;" "pillage," etc. Worcest. Dict. ; Webst. Dict. In Eoget's Thesaurus it_will be found grouped with "mutilation," "spoilation," "destruction," and "sack," at section 619; with "harm," "wrong," "molest," "spoil," "despoil," "lay waste," "dismantle," "demolish," "consume," "overrun," and "destroy," at section 649; with "booty," "spoil," and "prey," at section 793; and with "taking," "catohiiig," "seizing," "carrying away," "stealing," "thieving," "depredation," "pilfering," "larceny," "robbery," "marauding," "embezzlement," "filch," "pilfer," and "purloin," at sections 791, 792, (Sears' Ed. 1866.) In Abbott's Law Dictionary "plunder" is said to be often used to express the idea of taking property without right to do so; but not as expressing the. nature of the wrong involved, or necessarily imputing a felonious intent. 2 Abb. Dict. 284, word, "Plunder." In Bouvier's Law Dictionary it is limited to the idea of capturing prop- erty from a public enemy on land; but "plunderage" is defined as a maritime term for the "embezzlement" of goods on board- a ship. The word is used in Eev. St. § 5361, in describing an intent as a synonym of "despoil," this being also a section of the act of 1825, from which the onewe are considering was taken, Thefirst English statute of 7 and 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, § 18, used the words "plunder or steal," but contained a proviso that where things of small value were cast onshore and were stolen, without circumstances of violence, the offender might be prosecuted for simple larceny ; which shows that the statute was not regarded as declaring the crime of larceny sim- ply, but something more. Indeed, anciently, the common law would ��� �