People v. Ah Sing

Appellant was convicted of the crime of robbery, and now asks this court for a reversal of the judgment and a new trial.

It is insisted that the information does not state facts sufficient to constitute the crime of robbery, in this, it is charged that the defendant did “ steal, take, and carry away from the person of one Tom She Bin,” etc. Robbery is defined to be the “felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another from his person or immediate presence.” The information alleges that the property was taken by force from the person of Tom She Bin, and against his will, and was his personal property. These facts fairly show a possession of the property in the prosecuting witness.

In framing an information, the statute should be carefully followed, and such would have been the better practice in this instance; but we think the present defect *656 more technical than substantial, more apparent than real. This court said in People v. Rozelle, 78 Cal. 84 : “ Under the provisions of the Penal Code, the particularity of averment necessary at common law is not required. It is only necessary that the substantial facts constituting the crime shall be alleged with…