McElroy

Defendant was charged with grand larceny in stealing seventeen dollars from the person of one James Shaw, and convicted. He complains that the evidence did not warrant the verdict.

Shaw and the defendant had their beds near together in the open air. Shaw on going to bed removed his trousers, in the pocket of which was the money, and placed them under his head as a pillow; while he slept they were abstracted by the defendant, and the money taken. The question is whether these facts show a taking “ from the person” under our statute, which makes the offense grand larceny, without regard to the amount stolen, “when the property is taken from the person of another.” If it was not such taking, the amount was insufficient to constitute any greater offense than that of petit larceny. (Pen. Code, secs. 487, 488.)

The stealing of property from the person has been from an early period under the English statutes treated as a much graver and more heinous offense than ordinary or common theft—partly by reason of the ease with which it can be perpetrated and the difficulty of guarding against it, and partly because of the greater liability of endangering the person or life of the victim. The…