People v. Fong Hong

The appellant was convicted of arson in the first degree, and appeals from the judgment, from an order denying his motion in arrest of judgment, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial. A reversal is contended for on two grounds:

1. Appellant’s counsel contends that as "it is not arson to bum one’s own property” (citing People v. De Winton, 113 Cal. 403 , 54 Am. St. Rep. 357 ) "therefore it was incumbent upon the prosecution to prove that defendant did not have a license from the owner to burn, if he did so.” It is not necessary to determine whether this novel proposition would under any circumstances be entitled to grave consideration; for it certainly has no value in the case at bar. In the De Winton case it was correctly held that an indictment was bad in which it wás merely charged in general terms that the defendant burned a building which was his own property—no other facts as to title, or as to possession, occupancy, etc., being stated. But it is provided in section 452 of the Penal Code as follows: “To constitute arson it is not necessary that a person other than the accused should have had ownership in the building set on fire. It is sufficient that at the…