JB/073/064/001

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+ 1.st Suppose the Theft was committed in the high
Road half way between London & York, and the
Thief when he had gotten the Goods, keeping the
high Road went oft as fast as he could either
the one way or the other — when shall he be said
to have carried them away?

2d Suppose it were a common field (the property
of several persons within one Hedge) from which
he took the produce — should he be said to
have carried it away after he had got beyond the
invisible Line drawn between two mere Stones bounding
the property of the Owner of that part whose produce he
took from that of the owner of another part, or not till
after he had gotten to the Hedge ? or as soon as he had
gotten to the Road passing through ? And in the
several Cases of the Road's being a Footway a
Horseway a Driftway a private way a
public way?

3d Suppose it was a Flower Bed in a Garden belonging
to one Man from whence he had taken the produce —
was it carried away as soon as he had removed it
from the Bed or not till after he had gotten out of
the Garden ? And suppose the Thief himself had
a little Garden of his own within the Garden he had pilfer'd as is often the Case in the Outskirts of
great Towns ?

4.thly Suppose it were a House from whence he
had taken a piece of Furniture ; a Candlestick
for example — is it carried away as soon as it is
taken out of the Box in which it is kept, or not till

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it is taken out of the Closet in which the Box is
kept, or the Room in which the Closet is, or the
House in which the Room is, or the Homestall in
which the House is or the Estate in which the
Homestall is? And what is the House, and what
is the Homestall?

5.thly & Lastly. Suppose it were a Mine from
whence he had taken a piece of

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THEFT. 46

when compared each with the Evidence on which it
was founded, and with one another; and be the Occasion
of tedious and painful Debates among the Members
of that Tribunal if they bestowed due Attention to
their Duty.

In short it would involve without Necessity
a very intricate Topic of Law in their Decisions; of
Law which they could not be able to settle with any
Uniformity themselves, nor always to understand if
settled for them. The Reader will soon be satisfied of
this by casting his Eye over the small Specimen of
these Difficulties in the Margin. +

If I had drawn it earlier, besides the Disadvantages
of giving a Sense to the Denomination of the Offence
not coinciding with the popular, I should have obliterated
in this Instance the Distinction between Offences inchoate
and consummate: a Distinction which in many
Instances is recognized by the Law and which I thought
useful to be kept up + // + // v. Chapter with that Title - for the Note v. p. 49.

I have avoided prefixing any such Epithet as
"secret" to the word Taking, in Order not to exclude
such an Incident as the very common one of a Man's running

Identifier: | JB/073/064/001"JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 73.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	073	Main Headings	law in general
Folio number	064	Info in main headings field	theft
Image	001	Titles
Category	copy/fair copy sheet	Number of Pages	3
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f44 / / f46
Penner		Watermarks	[[watermarks::l v g propatria [britannia motif]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	caroline vernon
Corrections	jeremy bentham	Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	23904
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