California First-Year Law Students' Exam (Baby Bar) — MCCriminal LawMedium
A client, an unemployed construction worker, is walking past a construction site late at night. He notices a stack of copper pipes, which he knows are valuable as scrap metal. He decides to take them to sell for money to buy food. He climbs over a fence, takes the pipes, and carries them away. What is the most appropriate charge for the client's actions?
- ARobbery
- BLarceny
- CEmbezzlement
- DBurglary
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Larceny
Larceny is the trespassory taking and carrying away of personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive. The client took the pipes (taking), moved them (carrying away), from the construction site (trespassory), intending to sell them (permanently deprive).
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Robbery requires taking from the person or presence of another by force or fear, not present here.
- C. Embezzlement involves lawful possession of property followed by fraudulent conversion, which is not the case here.
- D. Burglary requires breaking and entering the dwelling of another (or structure, in modern law) with intent to commit a felony therein, not just taking property from a site.
Larceny (Common Law)
The trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with the intent to permanently deprive the owner thereof.
- Trespassory taking (without consent).
- Asportation (carrying away, even slight movement).
- Personal property of another.
- Intent to permanently deprive (at the time of taking).
Memory trick: Taking stuff without permission, that's a property crime.