People v. Black

The defendant has been convicted of a felony, based upon an indictment framed under section 497 of the Penal Code. This section reads: “Every person who in another state or country steals the property of another, or receives such property Imowing it to have been stolen, and brings the same into this state, may be convicted and punished in the same manner as if such larceny or receiving had been committed in this state.” It is charged that the defendant committed grand larceny in stealing certain articles of jewelry in the Dominion of Canada, and bringing said articles into the city and county of San Francisco, state of California. Upon this state of facts it is insisted that the superior court of the city and county of San Francisco, state of California, had no jurisdiction to try the defendant for such offense. Indeed, it is insisted that there is no statutory authority vesting any particular superior court in the state of California with jurisdiction to try such an offense.

By section 789 of the Penal Code it is provided that the jurisdiction of a criminal action for stealing in another state the property of another, or receiving it knowing it to have been stolen, and bringing…