{
  "id": 3112049,
  "name": "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Max Hoffman, Plaintiff in Error",
  "name_abbreviation": "People v. Hoffman",
  "decision_date": "1925-01-26",
  "docket_number": "Gen. No. 28,764",
  "first_page": "1",
  "last_page": "4",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "236 Ill. App. 1"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [
    {
      "cite": "243 Ill. 471",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill.",
      "case_ids": [
        3415047
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ill/243/0471-01"
      ]
    },
    {
      "cite": "302 Ill. 590",
      "category": "reporters:state",
      "reporter": "Ill.",
      "case_ids": [
        5011698
      ],
      "opinion_index": 0,
      "case_paths": [
        "/ill/302/0590-01"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 289,
    "char_count": 5322,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.469,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 8.262683731656366e-08,
      "percentile": 0.4783867708117346
    },
    "sha256": "17187fbd442479886e9593efdc38ff99059e39c9fa619eeab84a34e18b13c741",
    "simhash": "1:35b8557d7ec7e8fd",
    "word_count": 898
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:19:53.610649+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Max Hoffman, Plaintiff in Error."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Presiding Justice McSurely\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nDefendant was charged and found guilty in the municipal court of Chicago of stealing money by pickpocketing, sentenced to imprisonment in the House of Correction of Chicago for a term of six months, and fined one dollar and costs.\nA reversal is asked upon the ground, among others, that the municipal court had no jurisdiction to try defendant for the crime charged.\nThe information filed charged that defendant \u201cdid unlawfully steal, take and carry away by picking pocket fifteen dollars in U. S. currency, the property of * * # H. N. Kirk, etc.\u201d By amendment in 1921 the statute in regard to the punishment for larceny was amended to read as follows:\n\u201cEvery person convicted of larceny if the property stolen exceeds the value of $15, or if the property is stolen from the person of another, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one nor more than ten years; if the property stolen has not been stolen from the person of another and is of the value of $15, or less, the person convicted shall be confined in the county jail, or sentenced to labor in the workhouse of the county, city or town, where the conviction is had.\u201d Cahill\u2019s HI. St. 1923, eh. 38, |f 382.\nBy this amendment stealing from the person of another, regardless of the amount, was made a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary; and the municipal court does not have jurisdiction of felonies. This amendment was so construed in People v. Harris, 302 Ill. 590, where the defendant, although proved guilty of petit larceny, was sentenced to the penitentiary, and the court said: \u201cHe might have been indicted and convicted under the amendment of 1921 making larceny from the person punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary.\u201d And in People v. Whitman, 243 Ill. 471, it was held that an information charging the offence of larceny of an amount more iban $15, charged an offence of which the prosecution must be by indictment by the grand jury, and therefore an offence of which the municipal court had no jurisdiction.\nIt is suggested that the information charged defendant with stealing \u201cby picking pocket\u201d and does not necessarily charge that there was larceny from the person, for these words might imply that the money was taken from the pocket of clothes not worn by a person at the time. The words, \u201cpicking pocket,\u201d universally describe taking something from a pocket of clothes while on a person.\nConstruing, as we must, the information most strongly in favor of defendant, we hold that the information clearly charges stealing from the person of another.\nFurthermore, the evidence without dispute shows that the complaining witness\u2019 money was taken from Ms person wMle riding in a street car.\nIt is true, as suggested by counsel for the State, that the amendment with reference to stealing from the person does not make such larceny a distinct and separate offense. It is still larceny, just as it is larceny whether the property stolen is less or more than $15 in value, but under our criminal code one may be proceeded against in the mumcipal court by information; the other must be by indictment by a grand jury. That is the case here, and when the State proceeded against defendant for the crime of stealing by picking the pocket of another, the defendant should have been charged by indictment in the criminal court.\nWe cannot agree with the contention that th\u00e9 word \u201cshall\u201d used in the statute in question may he construed as permissive as if the word were \u201cmay.\u201d It was the evident intention of the legislature that if the property stolen exceeded the value of $15 or was stolen from the person of another, the convicted person should be imprisoned in the penitentiary and the word \u201cshall\u201d was used as mandatory.\nFor the reason that the municipal court had no jurisdiction to prosecute the defendant for the crime charged in the information, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.\nReversed cmd remanded.\nHatchett and Johnston, JJ., concur.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Presiding Justice McSurely"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "James F. Fabdy, for plaintiff in error.",
      "Egbert E. Crowe, State\u2019s Attorney, for defendant in error."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "The People of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Max Hoffman, Plaintiff in Error.\nGen. No. 28,764.\n1. Larceny \u2014 jurisdiction of municipal court of Chicago of larceny from the person. Cahill\u2019s 111. St. 1923, ch. 38, If 382, makes stealing from the person a felony punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, regardless of the amount stolen and the municipal court of Chicago has no jurisdiction of such offense.\n2. Larceny \u2014 information charging \u201cpicking pocket\" as charge of larceny from the person. An information charging larceny \u201cby picking pocket\u201d charges stealing from the person of another.\n3. Crimes and punishment \u2014 place of imprisonment for larceny from the person. In Cahill\u2019s 111. St. ch. 38, f 382, providing that a person convicted of larceny from the person \u201cshall be imprisoned in the penitentiary\u201d the word \u201cshall\u201d is mandatory and the person convicted may not be imprisoned in the House of Correction of Chicago.\nError by defendant to the Municipal Court of Chicago; the Hon. Howard W. Hayes, Judge, presiding. Heard in the first division of this court for the first district at the March term, 1924.\nReversed and remanded.\nOpinion filed January 26, 1925.\nJames F. Fabdy, for plaintiff in error.\nEgbert E. Crowe, State\u2019s Attorney, for defendant in error."
  },
  "file_name": "0001-01",
  "first_page_order": 59,
  "last_page_order": 62
}