People v. Caridis case brief

People v. Caridis case brief summary
154 P. 1061

CASE SYNOPSIS

The People challenged the judgment of the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco (California), which allowed a demurrer to an information that charged defendant with grand larceny. The trial court dismissed the action.

CASE FACTS
The information stated that defendant had taken a lottery ticket that belonged to a company. After a drawing held by the company, it stated that it would pay the holder of the ticket a certain amount of money. Defendant collected the money for the ticket. The ticket belonged to someone else.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, the court held that the information was framed to fit the requirements of Cal. Penal Code § 492. 
• The court found that the ticket had no relative value although it was the evidence of a debt due from an enterprise that was denounced by law and that apparently existed and was conducted by its promoters in defiance of the law. 
• Further, the court ruled that an obligation that existed in defiance of a law that denounces it had neither validity nor value. 
• The court indicated that the fact that defendant collected money from the company added nothing to the validity or value of the ticket. 
• The court concluded that considered as a mere piece of paper, the ticket possessed perhaps some slight intrinsic value and would have sufficient to make the wrongful taking of it petit larceny.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the dismissal of the action against defendant.

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